Ward 37
by reidnparker
Summary: When Dean is admitted onto ward 37 yet again, he doesn't expect his nurse to be cute - they never are. But, on the night of his admittance, Nurse Novak is lying in bed awaiting his first day on a new ward.
1. Chapter 1

The locker room is filled with early birds – the nurses are getting ready to swap with the night shift workers. The chatter that buzzes in the air is lazy, and the smell of coffee floats around the room as strong as ever. Mr. Novak slips on his light blue scrubs, and tugs his white sneakers onto his feet.

He looks around at the selection of possible new colleagues – this locker room was shared between half of floor three, where ward 37 took place. It was mainly for patients to be held once they'd come in from the ER, usually due to overcrowding upon other wards. It was always busy, and Cas is looking forward to a change from working two months in paediatrics.

Taking the last sip of his coffee before tossing it into the nearby trash can, he stands up from he bench, and inhales a breath of coffee scented air. He holds the door open for two females entering the room, who thank him and smile. One of the women even looks him up and down, slightly less subtly than she may have been hoping for. Cas laughs – he's never really been interested in these kind of flirtatious glances, especially not from the female staff, anyway.

Swiping his ID tag over the little sensor by the door, it swings open for him in due course. The ward is still dark, as it's only six am. Change over time meant that he would soon know what patients he has for the day, and then he most likely wouldn't sit down again for another good six hours. He walks up to the front desk, and flashes a smile at the receptionist. "Hi there, I'm Nurse Novak – new staff on today," he introduces himself to the blonde, who returns the smile somewhat half-heartedly.

"You'll be swapping with Nurse Masters' night cases, she's just over there." The woman points a freshly manicured nail towards a slim built woman, with long, black hair. She has her hands stuffed in the pockets of her deep blue uniform, and is currently talking to a registrar.

Cas politely awaits until she's finished, and then he steps up to her in anticipation. "You must be our new nurse, I'm Meg." She extends a hand towards him, and he shakes it firmly. Not really feeling the need to introduce himself, since it already seems like the sister is fully informed, he then awaits her speech yet again.

"Since it's your first day, and we've got enough nurses to fully cover the patients, I've only written you down for three – we've got an appendicitis recovery in room three, as of last night's emergent surgery, an elderly woman who broke her hip two days ago, so she should be going home fairly soon.. And," she pauses for a few moments, her deep brown eyes scanning down her clipboard with the utmost concentration.

Her eyes flit upwards and back at Cas, and she hands him the clipboard "room 17, brought in last night with severe respiratory distress. Good luck, Novak!" Her smile looks almost teasing, before she turns on her heels and clip-clops along the linen flooring.

Cas looks at the clipboard in front of him, and flicks through the pages. He decides to check on the two minor cases first – take their observations, and take an estimation as to how long it'll be before they can be discharged. He spends a fair twenty minutes within both rooms. The appendicitis patient is only eighteen, and is extremely adamant that she must get home to her boyfriend – _kids these days._ The elderly woman is a lot more cooperative, but Cas has to politely get her to stop chatting about her grandkids, or he'll end up getting told off for completing his morning tasks too slowly.

Finally, he makes his way around to room 17. The door is closed, as well as all of the curtains. As he lets the door shut behind him, a groan emits from underneath the pile of blankets on the bed a few metres away. Cas walks past the curtain, and then proceeds to slide the ones covering the windows all the way across, also. "Mr. Winchester, I'm Nurse Novak, and if you'd kindly sit up for just a moment or two, and then I can take your obs," Cas raises his voice hopefully loud enough for the patient to hear... But, there is no reply back.

Scanning his case again, Cas looks back up from the clipboard, and at the huddle of blankets before him. It seems like twenty three year old Dean Winchester is going to be Cas' most troublesome patient of the day. "Mr. Winchester, it's rather important that I check your vitals." Cas continues at taking a calm approach, but he shuffles a little nearer to the bed. When there is yet again no answer, he starts to gently pull away at the covers.

"Fight me," comes a muffled, grumpy tone. Cas rolls his eyes, and then proceeds to pull at the blankets a little harder.

"No, seriously, fight m –" Dean tries his best to shout at his pestering nurse, but is overcome by a rather nasty coughing fit instead. Cas steps back from the bed, and then glances upwards at the oxygen monitor, and the oxygen mask that's dangling a few centimetres below it... That's disconnected from said patient.

He immediately yanks the covers away from the stubborn, idiotic man. "You better be cute, I swear..." A murmur comes from underneath a pillow. Cas huffs, and then lifts the pillow up too. He's now stuck holding the bundle of Dean's bedding, leaving his patient barefooted in his pyjamas.

Placing the bedding into a nearby corner, Cas resets the oxygen (as someone had turned it off), and then rolls Dean over by using his shoulder. He places the mask onto his face, ignoring the hole that Dean is metaphorically burning into him, with his dull, green eyes. "You're not, u – uh," the Winchester stammers, causing a smile to play upon the nurse's lips.

He now rolls up Dean's sleeve, in order to take his blood pressure. "You don't think I'm cute?" A playful smirk emerges upon Cas, but Dean almost chokes on his saliva.

"W – what do you mean?" Cas brings a finger up to his lips, telling Dean not to speak. He obeys, and swallows hard. "Try to relax, Mr. Winchester." Castiel informs – his blood pressure seems to be rising.

Once he has taken the final reading, he moves on to taking Dean's pulse... Which also seems to be slightly elevated. It couldn't be due to how flustered the poor kid was, just because of that one, joky remark though... _Could it?_ Or is Dean blushing like crazy because he wants to get lost in Nurse Novak's eyes, or does he simply have a fever?

Placing the thermometer underneath Dean's arm, it'll soon be able to reveal the truth. Dean's eyes are closed again, and Cas wonders if he's already fallen asleep – despite the fact he has no blankets to snuggle back into, nor a pillow to rest his rather nest-like head of hair. "Ah, it seems you're rather hot this morning," Cas notes, taking a close look at the reading.

One of Dean's eyes pries open, and the corners of his mouth twitch upwards for the first time. "Am I now?" He grins, and Cas is somewhat saddened as the grin dissapears when Dean's hand comes up to his mouth, accompanied by a painful sounding cough.

"Right, I'll go and collect some intravenous pain killers for you... Keep that oxygen mask on, I mean it!" He gives a stern stare towards him, before turning his back. The young nurse reaches down for Dean's pillow, and then throws it towards him. Ignoring the rather adorable pout that's trying to make him also throw over the blankets, Castiel exits the room forthwith.

Letting the door close once again, Cas leans against a nearby wall. Can he really, genuinely deal with this stubborn, scruffy, yet somehow unbelievably cute ball of idiocy? He lets his thoughts dance around his mind for a few moments, until he sees a fellow nurse heading his way. She looks busy – too busy to listen to Cas' pleas about swapping patents. Besides, that's stupid behaviour... Somewhat petty, even.

So, pushing his personal feelings way back into a locked part of his mind, Cas breaks into a jog towards the medicine room. He collects all that he needs to refill Dean's IV, and then calmly heads off back in the direction of room 17.


	2. Chapter 2

I'm so sorry it keeps showing up as code, I'm confused. Hopefully it's fixed now!

When lunchtime rolls around, Cas feels as if he's worked double the hours he's actually done. So far, he's had to deal with – the elderly patient's obnoxious grandson, the boyfriend of the appendicitis case trying to take her home a day too early, and Dean picking an argument with him everytime he enters his room. No, really – he even got mad when Cas tried to get him onto the scales to be weighed.

Biting into his apple, Cas leans back in his chair. "You look tired, new guy." A female voice chuckles, as she takes an adjacent seat at his table. Her brunette hair is tied up in a bun, but two streams of ringlets frame her face. Her eyes are the babiest blue, and when Cas looks at her he immediately feels calm.

"Have you ever met Dean Winchester?" Cas asks nonchalantly, taking his last bite before throwing the apple core into the trash. The female nurse's laughter fills the small space between them, and Cas frowns slightly.

"Just say no more," her dainty hands brush a piece of loose hair out of her eyes, whilst she continues to chuckle. "He's a tricky customer, I've known him the two years I've been working this ward."

They sit quietly together for no more than ten seconds, because after she takes a sip from her coffee, she begins to chat once again. "First time I met him, I was... On my second night shift. He'd just been moved up from ER, and was complaining to the guy wheeling him that they'd bruised his arms and that he was going to sue," she laughs at the memory, but Cas' eyes widen just slightly.

"Was he being genuine?" He questions, causing the woman to smile.

"Oh, no.. He says stuff like that all the time," she explains, and Cas decides that he should probably laugh a little too.

Soon enough, and his lunch break is over. He bids a goodbye to his new friend, Nurse Amanda ('Mandy' for short), and heads to check on Dean's oxygen levels. When he opens the door and his eyes fall upon the sight in front of him, he's more than a little surprised. "Mr. Winchester, what on earth are you doing out of bed?!" Cas scolds, and watches as Dean physically jumps at the sudden raised voice in the room.

"What the hell, Novak?! Don't sneak up on me like that," Dean counteracts. Cas sees him pick something up from the floor, and then stops himself from cussing as he realises that it's the TV remote. Dean is out of bed, and endangering his hearth... to retrieve the freaking remote.

Of course, Nurse Novak heads over to help him back into bed, and of course Dean declines the offer, and swats the man away. "I may have shitty lungs, but my legs work just fine, thank you," is his classy reply. Taking a step back, Cas resorts to handing him the oxygen mask instead.

"If you keep this up, I'll have to insert a nasal cannula," he warns Dean, who is currently trying not to act like he's taking in the extra oxygen like his life sort of depends on it. Cas raises an eyebrow, glancing from his patient to the slowly rising number on the oxygen machine's screen.

If Cas was expecting an answer, he might as well give up, as when he looks back at Dean his eyes are closed, and his breathing is slowly becoming more relaxed. Just to be safe, Cas stands by for a few moments – thankfully, he has fallen asleep, and he's not unconscious, or anything of the sorts. After taking his pulse, and trying his best not to wake Dean whilst doing his blood pressure, Cas then leaves the room to tend to his other patients.

 ** _5.07p.m._**

"It was very nice to meet you too, M'am. You stay safe now, okay? Take care," the old woman eventually releases her strong grip on Castiel's hand, and then totters off back to her husband. She waves goodbye to her nurse, and then leaves the ward.

Just as Cas turns around to sign a few papers, he hears slightly heavy footsteps coming up behind him. As he turns around, he's faced with a young man dressed in a casual hoody and jeans. Having to physically tilt his head upwards to look him in the eye, Cas addresses the newcomer. "May I help you?" He asks kindly, sensing the look of worry that reflected inside the boy's green orbs.

"I'm – uh – here to see my brother? I'm Sam, Sam Winchester." He flashes a half smile, and Cas turns around to face the receptionist. The woman gives him a nod, so Cas begins to walk away from the desk, and towards Dean's room.

He turns his head to make sure that Sam is following "this way," he smiles. Cas stops outside Dean's door, and then opens it for Sam. After receiving a polite thank you, Cas enters the room too – he has to take Dean's obs again.

At first, Dean doesn't flinch at his door opening and closing. He simply carries on flicking through the channels on the tiny TV that's opposite him, staring blankly ahead. "Hey, jerk." Sam speaks up, and it's as if two tiny lights just turned on behind Dean's eyes, as a small flicker of happiness changes inside of him.

"Sammy!" He greets, throwing the remote towards the end of his bed.

"How're you feelin'?" Sam asks, pulling up the chair in the corner towards the side of Dean's bed.

Dean opens his mouth to speak to his brother, but unfortunately he doesn't get the chance to lie, and starts coughing instead. Sam looks panicked towards Cas, who is just prepping the blood pressure monitor – some machines are a little more unreliable than others. "Sam, I'm fine!" Whilst reaching for his oxylem mask, Dean attempts at reassuring his younger sibling.

Cas is now by Dean's side, holding out the blue inhaler that has been placed on the table beside Dean's bed since he arrived last night. Ripping off the mask in frustration, Dean takes it from Cas, and uses the medicine correctly. It's evident that he hates being fussed over, and he certainly dislikes being so sick... But, that's pretty much just his life.

It takes a few minutes, but once Dean's obs have been checked, he's breathing normally again (well, normal on the Dean Winchester scale, anyway). "Jess sends her well wishes, but her hangover was too bad for her to come with," Sam is laughing – he and his girlfriend were drinking last night, when Sam got worried and called the ambulance. He usually drives Dean to the hospital himself, but he wasnt exactly going to break the law last night – or any night, for that matter.

"Tell her I'll be expecting cookies," Dean says, accompanied with the most serious facial expression. Sam laughs, and then glances across at the untouched dinner tray on the table. His own expression alters from amused, to worried.

The Nurse leaves the room momentarily, and Sam stands up to wander over to the food tray. He makes a face of disgust, which makes Dean laugh. "Exactly," he says with a scoff, watching his brother poke around at the alien looking food underneath the covering.

Sam quickly backs away from messing around with the food, as the door opens again, and Cas comes in with some more IV fluids. He sits beside Dean's bed, and proceeds to flush his cannula. After he's finished reconnecting the line, he's about to leave the room, when Dean speaks up. "Hey, what's your first name?" He calls out, making Cas stand still – his back still facing the brothers behind him.

Cas turns around, a smile threatening to creep upon his lips, _"Why?"_

"Well, I mean – I can't keep calling you 'Nurse Novak,' 'cause that just sounds like something from one of those crappy daytime TV things that I've been painfully watching all morning!" Dean replies, "no offence, and all." He adds quickly afterwards.

"Cas – tiel," he quickly adds on, not wanting to seek forwards at immediately filling him in on his nickname, so soon. "... And, none taken," the Nurse chuckles.

"I prefer... _Cas..._ yeah, that's better."

He leaves the room with a strange, warm feeling inside. You know, like; when someone compliments you – a stranger on the street, telling you that you have a nice smile.

 _Yeah... Kinda like that._


	3. Chapter 3

Dean was admitted to hospital on the Sunday night, and it was now nearing towards Thursday's. Cas had been sleeping pretty much all day, only waking up to go and eat food, or use the bathroom – in order to recover from his past there days of work, and to prepare for his first night shift on ward 37.

As soon as he clocks in – at 7.p.m. on the dot – he disposes of his now empty coffee cup. Looking at the white board pinned up in reception, it seems that they're in for a quiet night;

 ** _Nurse Novak – Dean Winchester, Mallory White._**

 ** _Sister Masters – Amber Read, Rebekah Northwood._**

 ** _Nurse Fielding – Thomas Nightingale._**

Only five patients on a twenty person capacity ward. They might gain a few overnight though, as this is the ward where Unknown ER cases go, or overcrowding patients. Cas walks by Mandy – Nurse Fielding – who gives him a smug smile. "I've just been in to see your favourite patient," she jokes, and of course Cas' brain automatically knows who's she's talking about.

"Wit scale, from one to ten?" An eyebrow raises, as Cas answers her back.

She chuckles, "I think he's tired, so I'd say a strong four."

He nods, and then continues walking. He first checks on his female patient – a woman in her mid-thirties, who was admitted yesterday afternoon due to complications with an infected wound. She is due to be discharged tomorrow, as soon as her antibiotics are sent up from the pharmacy (and, anyone who frequents any hospital knows just how long that can take.)

Humming a little tune, Castiel quietly opens Dean's door – he's learnt to try and break the habit of letting it slam, – and sees the young man sitting cross-legged on his bed. He hasn't even noticed the nurse enter the room, and continues to stare into space. Not wanting to sneak up on him yet again, Cas quietly clears in throat, in order to make his presence known.

Dean's eyes dart towards the source of the sound, the shades of green catching alight from the moon. "Hey, Cas." He speaks casually, his voice sounding lazy.

Switching on the small bedside lamp, Cas examines his patient. Dean looks a lot better than he did on Monday, thanks to the strong intravenous antibiotics that are now taking their effects. But, the doctors want to keep him in until at least the weekend, because his white blood cell count is still dangerously low, and his ability to breathe on his own still isn't quite up to acceptable standards.

"How're you feeling this evening?" The blood pressure cuff tightens uncomfortably around Dean's upper arm, causing him to shift in his seat.

"Oh, just peachy – thanks." _There's that wit._

Castiel takes all of Dean's obs – his fever broke yesterday morning, so the blanket mountain was less frowned upon now – and, then gets Dean to hold his breath for a certain amount of seconds, before telling him to breathe out, and then in again. It only takes until the second breath for him to double over into a coughing fit, whilst Cas places his palm face down onto Dean's back.

"How often do you complete your breathing exercises?" Castiel questions, a frown upon his face.

Dean scoffs, and then looks up at him. "Oh, every day and night, trust me –" he wheezes, " – Cas,"

"They're only there to help you," the nurse scolds.

"Will they prevent me from getting another chest infection?" Dean snaps back slightly, and they're both somewhat surprised at his tone.

Cas sighs, taking a few moments to reply. "You know I mean in the long run, to help your overall daily respiratory needs."

"That sounds like some of the exact same crap Doc Wainwright feeds me," Dean slumps his head back onto his pillow in defeat. "I don't like Doc Wainright, he has a creepy face." Dean speaks mid-yawn, his eyes beginning to blink in a slow manner.

A light chuckle escapes Cas' lips – Dean's only grumpy because he's tired. Glancing at his IV, it states that his transfusion of the second daily dose of his meds will be done in half an hour, so Cas plans to return a few minutes before this deadline, so that the alarm won't start going off and endanger waking Dean up.

When Castiel's fingers wrap around the cold, metal door handle to Dean's room, he hears the sound of snoring fill the room. Feeling glad that he's getting the rest he needs, Nurse Novak leaves the room.

 ** _4.27a.m._**

Cas leans against the wooden reception desk, his eyes slowly travelling around his dimly lit surroundings. The only lights that are on nearby, is a small lamp behind him, and two buzzing lights on the lobby area ceiling. With his rounds done just twenty minutes ago, there's nothing to do right now, but await one of his patients to call on him, or drink more coffee – which he's doing right now.

The dull sound of bare footsteps padding along the floor begin to grow closer and closer towards Cas, which distracts him for consuming that last mouthful of warm fluid. Turning around, he physically jumps as someone is standing a lot closer to his face than he was originally expecting. "Well, hi!" Dean's voice chirps, and Cas' frown grows deeper.

"Dean, what are you doing out of bed?!" He whisper-shouts, unintentionally taking the stance of hand-on-hip-angry-mom pose.

The patient blinks once, "you called me Dean,"

"I – you... _What?_ " Cas stammers, and it makes Dean chuckle.

"You usually address me as _'Mr. Winchester.'_ " He purposely puts on a deep voice, mocking Cas' tone. Predictably though, these actions then proceed in irritating Dean's throat, and he turns away from his nurse so that he can cough.

Leaving Cas wondering if he really does sound like that, he quickly snaps away from his thoughts as Dean staggers sideways. Cas' arm extends out to catch him, but Dean grabs onto the desk beside them instead. "I got it," he sarcastically exhales some air.

Dean slowly inhales again, but fails to do so in one easy sweep. "Okay, I don't got it." His coughing starts up again, and is now growing worse – drawing the attention of Nurse Fielding, who has just been tending to her patient, in their nearby room.

The pair of nurses each take one of Dean's arms, and carefully lead him back to his room. Once Dean is lying on the bed, Mandy speeds over to the oxygen machine and switches it on, whilst Cas hurriedly hands Dean his inhaler. "Jesus, this chest infection is a bitch," are the words that barely escape his mouth, seconds before that familiar plastic mask is placed over his nose and mouth.

Cas looks exasperatedly over towards his female colleague, but it looks as if Dean's comment has simply brushed over the top of her head – _oh, right, she's used to this._ "Stop getting out of bed!" Amanda wags a finger at Dean, before wheeling over the blood pressure monitor.

"You don't own me," Dean jokingly remarks. Mandy rolls her eyes, and starts on checking Dean's temperature, whilst Cas finishes looking on at the slightly high blood pressure reading. Understandably, the Winchester's pulse is a little raised too, so Mandy instructs him to lay back and relax, before she leaves his actual Nurse for the night to deal with him.

Mouthing a 'thank you,' as she walks out, Cas lets out a breath of relief that he hadn't even realised he'd been holding. He watches on, as Dean wriggles out from underneath his covers, and pulls off the oxygen mask.

"Now what're you doing?!" He rushes over to be closer to his side, only to find out that Dean's reaching into a brown, paper bag. He takes out a cookie, and breaks the thing pretty much in half, with just one bite.

Leaning back again, Dean gives him a look as if to say _'what do you think I'm doing?'_ until he gives his idea of an actual legit answer. "What can I say? Almost choking to death is hungry work," he takes another bite into the homemade cookie – courtesy of Jess, – and then grins, as he finishes his mouthful.

"Dean Winchester, you are officially unbelievable."

" _Meh,_ I've been called worse."


	4. Chapter 4

_a/n I've decided to set this fic in around the 2000's times, because I realised that when Dean was actually 22, there wasn't such modernised medical equipment, and DVDs, etc. So, yeah, this way it just makes things easier :)._

 ** _Saturday evening._**

At seven p.m. on the dot yet again, Cas clocks into his second night shift of the week. The ward seems eerily quiet – the sound of clocks ticking, and a few drips clicking are the only sounds that enter his ears. As his eyes wander towards the whiteboard with everyone's patients on, a tiny wave of happiness dances it's way over his head, when he reads that Dean is his only patient for the night.

The first thing he does is retrieve Dean's notes from today – Nurse Masters had been his day nurse again. She tells Cas that he's had quite a good day, and even went down to the hospital canteen with a visitor, named 'Charlie.' Pleased to hear such good news, Castiel makes his way towards room 17.

Assuming that Dean's awake, he enters the room whistling a quiet tune. Sure enough, Dean's sittin up in his bed, staring intently at the TV in front of his eyes. He's also sipping water from a straw – a pink one, to be precise, that's balanced inside a water bottle. "What're you watching there?" Cas becomes inquisitve, as he hasn't actually witnessed Dean being genuinely interested in one of the shows before.

"N – nothing," Dean stammers back at Cas, as he fumbles around on his bed for a remote. But, just before he manages to switch the screen to black, the curious Nurse catches a glimpse of what was on screen.

He walks a little closer to Dean, and a small smile creeps up on him. "Was that Aristocats?" Cas questions, and Dean's body language immediately shys away.

"Charlie brought it over for me, okay? It's what my Mom used to always put on when I was sick," Dean mumbles, playing with his hands.

Cas' heart sinks a little – the way Dean talks about him Mom seems to be in a subtle form of past tense, and he certainly doesn't speak of her in a cheerful tone. Feeling extremely bad for even bringing the subject up, Cas is desperately trying to think of something else to change the subject to.

But, instead of having to come up with some kind of embarrassing small talk, Dean clears his throat instead. "Do you know when I can go home?" He looks up at Cas, his eyes glistened with liquid.

Biting down on his tongue so as not to say anything about the look in Dean's eyes, Cas adverts his own towards the wall instead, "Your notes suggest Monday, but the Doctor thinks you're still at risk of the infection worsening, as the cough itself hasn't gotten any better."

"Well, that's shitty." Dean folds his arms, and sinks his body down in his bed. Cas notices that his hand is no longer bandaged due to the cannula, as it said in his notes that he's begun the oral course of antibiotics, and he's started eating and drinking without relying on any form of intravenous nutrition now, also.

"You'll be home before you know it," Cas offers up a half smile, and a little bit of positivity.

Heading over to retrieve what he needs to check his patient's obs, he hears Dean sniffle from behind him. After checking everything, it reveals that Dean's vitals are absolutely stable again. "If you get bored tonight, feel free to come and chat in the hallway – you're one of only four patients." Cas blurts out unexpectedly, sort of feeling surprised at himself for the gesture.

Dean also feels somewhat shocked, as he murmurs a quiet "thanks, Cas." To which Novak nods, and then exits Dean's room. As the sound of the door clicking shut behind him fills his eardrums, the sound of footsteps suddenly combines with it.

Nurse Fielding is heading his way, and she also seems like she has some time to spare, from the way her pace isn't as fast as normal – like when she's on her way to tend to a patient, for example. "Mandy?" Cas calls out, bringing her walking to a halt.

"Mmm?" She hums back at him, following as Cas begins to head towards the front desk. She also stops when he does, and then awaits for him to say what's on his mind.

"You say you've known Dean for three years... I know I shouldn't really pry about a patient, b – but, do you know what happened to his Mother?" Instant regret fills up almost every inch of Cas' insides, making him physically squirm on the spot.

Mandy sighs a little, but seems to understand Cas' wonder. "I don't know much about it – I'm not the Nurse he's closest to," she pauses, maybe questioning herself if she should go on, or not. "But, all I know is that she passed away when he was young. If you're curious, Dean just isn't the type to open up much about himself – he prefers to hide behind wit, and sarcasm."

"Well, _that_ I've noticed," he responds, trying to ignore his mind twisting and twirling with different theories to what exactly makes Dean Winchester, Dean Winchester.

A sudden flash bursts from behind them, and Mandy turns around to see one of her rooms flashing – indicating her patient has pressed their Nurses' button. "Chin up, Novak – patients are patients, we mustn't get too attached," she gently rubs his shoulder, before sprinting away from the desk. Leaving Cas alone.

Twenty minutes into filing some paperwork behind the desk, Cas freezes in action. It's almost as if someone's watching him, and he can definitely feel _some_ kind of presence nearby. As a coughing sound interrupts his fearful thoughts, his body quickly relaxes itself. Cas would know that cough from anywhere, by now.

"Hello, Dean."

"Dann it, I was gonna make you jump." The patient grumbles, moving into the light.

Cas lets out a chuckle, as he witnesses the ultimate look of grumpy disappointment that's currently plastered across Dean's pale complexed face. "Better luck next time," Cas shrugs, leaning both elbows onto the desk in front of him.

Dean walks around the side that normally only staff are allowed past, and he parks himself on the nearest spinny chair. Pushing himself round one time, Dean childishly exclaims a quiet _'weeeee!'_ Cas leaves him to it, and continues to file paperwork. Scanning different letters and numbers soon gets too much for Novak's brain, as does spinning around and around seems to for Dean.

"Bad idea," comes a shaky voice from beside Cas, who turns to make sure Dean is alright.

"Please don't vomit all over the case files," a wide eyed Cas remarks, whilst frantically looking around for a suitable container. His eyes land on the bin, but as he reaches for it, Dean's laughter makes him stop.

Turning to see just what's so funny, Dean feels a little disappointed that he no longer has the view he was having just a few moments ago. "Cas, chill – I'm fine." His eyes roll extremely sarcastically, which causes the Nurse to frown in response.

"Okay," is all that he can think to reply with. A few moments of silence then engulf them both, until Dean sighs.

Looking at each other without speaking would usually be awkward, but for a while it seems almost comforting to the pair. "What's wrong?" Cas finally asks, as Dean is the first one to break up the eye contact session.

"Will you come play cards with me?" That wasn't really what Castiel was expecting the Winchester to say, but he decides to roll with it.

With a shrug of his shoulders, and an accepting _'sure,'_ they both head back to Dean's room. Cas then proceeds to pull up a chair to Dean's bed, whilst he watches him pull the table into a suitable position, before dealing out the cards. He's wrapped his blanked around his body, and looks snuggly as he yawns.

"You know, there's always time to play cards tomorrow – I start my shift at midday." Cas offers, sensing that the Winchester is growing sleepy.

Dean shakes his head, with an added frown. "One game, if you win... You can have the last of Jess' cookies!" He somewhat mirrors an excited child, as he explains to Cas the rules of their game.

"And, if you win?" Castiel ponders, unsure as to what he can offer Dean in return of a prize.

Looking deep in thought for a while, Dean stays quiet. "If I win... You have to finish watching Aristocats with me," Cas laughs, the smile on his face staying put even after he's finished.

"Bring it on, _Winchester._ "


	5. Chapter 5

Cas did end up winning that game of cards, but he didn't eat the last cookie, and he promised that he'd watch the movie with Dean one day. Cas' daytime shift on Sunday was pretty quiet, so he eventually wound up in Dean's room discussing his thoughts on Disney movies, and pie.

Now that Monday has rolled around yet again, Cas has a small skip in his step – he's completed a full week at work, with no bad happenings. He signs himself in, and takes that usual glance at the board. A smile spreads across his face, whilst bidding good morning to Mandy.

He punches in the code to the room where they keep all the medicines. Collecting the right amount of antibiotics for Dean, he then swoops a glance at his watch – 7.09a.m. Wondering if Dean will be awake, Cas heads off to room 17. "Medicine delivery!" He calls out in a singsong tone, pattering a few knocks onto the door.

"Enter with the drugs!" Calls a voice back – leaving Castiel a little surprised that he had not only just received a verbal answer (that wasn't asking him to 'fight' Dean), but that his patient was already awake at such early hours.

Obeying the slightly crackled voice that had called back to him, Cas presses down onto the door handle, and wanders inside. Dean is dressed in usual clothes (as opposed to the pyjamas that he had been sporting for the past seven days previously,) and he was sat cross legged in the middle of his bed.

Handing him the paper pot that held his pills, Cas quickly reminds himself not to stare. "I should be outta here today," Dean begins, before placing the pills into his mouth with one swift hand motion, and then downing some water straight afterwards, "you better tell them to hurry up with the paperwork and meds."

"I will pester as much as I possibly can," is his answer – but, there's a tiny feeling of disappointment somewhere behind his words. Of course, Cas wants his patient to be better... But, some part of him is going to miss the strangely comforting aroma of cough drops and cologne.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Cas proceeds to take Dean's obs in silence. "What, no humming? Not even a whi – " Dean coughs momentarily, " – stle?" He finishes off, that playful smirk becoming less subtle by the second.

"It's Monday, Winchester." Is the slightly dead panned response. Looking up, Cas feels bad for causing Dean to look a little hurt at his tone, but this look soon fades – Dean can't have _anyone_ thinking he's not the sarcastic asshole that he makes himself out to be now, can he?

"Well, I think you should be happy for me – no more hospital food!" Dean genuinely grins, and looks damn adorable whilst doing so. It's good to see some colour back in his face, and not to hear him wheeze beteeen every two sentences that he speaks.

A tiny sigh escapes Cas' lips, and it's barely audible even to himself. He packs up his equipment, and bids Dean a 'see you later,' but doesn't get to leave without a voice telling him to hurry his discharge paperwork up. He chuckles at the persistence of the guy, and then actually finds himself making his way towards the front desk to check on said paperwork, when usually he would just be shaking his head.

 ** _2 weeks later._**

The hustle and bustle of hospital life for sure hasn't been the same with Mr. Winchester occupying room 17. Maybe it's because Dean was Cas' first proper patient on his new ward duties, or maybe because Cas missed the constant wit and sarcasm. Or, did he just genuinely miss Dean as a person?

Similar thoughts to these have been swimming around inside Cas' head for days, but right now he's too busy to focus on them too much. They've had a new respiratory case arrive on their ward this morning, and Meg wants some of their blood work questioned. So, the sound of hurrying footsteps currently fill the corridors, and don't stop until they're firmly planted inside the respiratory medicine clinic.

The he setup itself is quite small, so Cas starts to internally panic when he can't spot the man he's looking for. He's neither in his office, nor wandering around the clinic itself... So, he goes for plan B. Rushing towards the front desk, Castiel feels impatient as there's a young man blocks his way. There's currently nobody sitting at the reception desk either – _brilliant._ "Shit," he mutters under his breath, frantically spinning on his heels to try and spot the doctor that he's looking for.

"Excuse me, do you know where Dr. Wainright might have gotten to?" He resorts to asking whoever is standing in front of him, but at the moment he's only talking to the back of a worn out denim jacket.

The stranger digs his hands deeper into his pockets, before beginning to turn around. "He's just gone down to the pharmacy, he'll probably be like two more mi –" now that the stranger has fully turned around, it turns around that he's not so _'strange'_ after all.

Castiel is also taken by sudden surprise, as he takes in the facial features of the slightly taller person standing before him. "Cas!"

"Dean!" Both are perfectly in sync, which brings a chuckle up to the Nurse's lips.

Unintentionally looking Dean up and down, he smiles at how well he looks. "You look..." He isn't quite sure on how to choose the correct words, in fear of sounding like he is coming across as rude – or too forwards, even.

"Not dead anymore?" Half a scoff replaces Cas' silence, as the Nurse's cheeks are now dusted with a light shading of baby pink.

"I wasn't going to put it so harshly, but, yes. You look well," the warm smile that accompanies those shy eyes, that have adverted to the ground, cause Dean to feel somewhat homely.

In fact, Dean is just about to mentally address this feeling – he shouldn't be feeling that _here_ , of all places – when his Doctor walks up behind Castiel. "Do not break it, lose it, or sell it." Are the short and snappy orders that fall from his mouth, as he hands Dean a small box.

"Who sells freakin' inhalers?! I'm out," The Winchester's previously softened expression has immediately twisted back to that contortion of anger, and impatience.

As Dean starts to walk away, Cas hurriedly tries to catch the Doctor's much needed attention, before he starts to yell after Dean. "You haven't booked your next appointment!" _Too late._

"Book it for me, _asshat!_ " comes the uncaring reply. Novak finds himself biting hard into his bottom lip – afraid he might laugh. He doesn't know much about Dr. Wainright, but, from what he's heard he's... Well, a dick, really.

Turning his focus back to his main intention of arriving in the clinic in the first place, Cas clears his throat, and proceeds to shuffle the papers that are in his hands. "Dr –" his words are temporarily drowned out, as someone has reopened the door a few metres in front of them, and poked his head around it.

"Bye, Cas!"


	6. Chapter 6

After a few more days of resting at home, Dean is hauling his backpack through the corridors of their local college. He only attends two days a week – studying as hard as he can, in order to retake his finals. He won't tell anybody this, (well, minus immediate family, and close friends who also count as family) but he kind of wants to pursue a career in music when he's finished... _Maybe._

Dean's closest friend also attends this college – a.k.a the same friend that got him through school, because he honestly would not have worn that graduation cap if it wasn't for her. Charlie Bradbury.

"Jeez, guys... Would ya get a room?" Dean grunts, as he takes a seat at their usual table in the canteen. Charlie completely blanks Dean's comment, as she places one last kiss upon her girlfriend's lips.

Due to different schedules, Charlie doesn't usually spend lunch with her girlfriend, so the pair like to give each other dramatic goodbyes... _Obviously_ not to annoy Dean, or anything along those lines. "See ya later, Char." Emily winks, stepping backwards and away from the table.

Charlie blows her a kiss, but can't hold in her laughter when she looks down to Dean – who's sitting impatiently awaiting for the, quote, 'lovey-dovey crap' to end. "You know we're not _that_ cringey," she giggles, parking herself next to Dean.

She already gave him a warm welcome this morning, when she found out that he was coming back to college today – hence not jumping into his arms just a few moments ago. "You're stupid," Dean half smiles, staring at his sandwich.

"How're you feeling?" Despite knowing how much Dean despise being fussed over, Charlie is a worrier. She constantly worries about Dean, and though he may not know it, there's been a lot of times that Emily has had to reassure a weeping Charlie that he'll be fine.

A dramatic sigh escapes Dean's lips, "fine," he takes a small bite of the bread. "You don't have to keep asking,"

The redhead leans against her friend's shoulder, but flinches when he begins to cough. "Oh yeah, I'm Dean Winchester, and I'm totally fine!" Charlie mocks, as he's reaching into his backpack for his inhaler.

Shoving it into his hoody pocket once he's done, he glares slightly at her. Of course, they're never ever mad at each other in a legit argumental way, but they still have their moments like this. "I could always just take you back to your boyfriend," she says innocently, twirling a few strands of red around one finger.

Having chosen a rather unfortunate time to take a sip of his water, Dean almost chokes on is currently mouthful. "What boyfriend?" He splutters, as Charlie grins from ear to ear at his reaction.

"Castiel, the Nurse!" She exclaims – like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

 _"Him?!"_ Deanscoffs, but Charlie audibly gasps.

The corners of her mouth are being tugged at again, as she breaks into a playful smile. "You're blushing!"

"Am not."

"Are too!"

And, with that, Dean then proceeds to chase Charlie around the canteen.

Often when Dean is sick, he'd have Charlie over for movie nights – if he hadn't already been admitted to hospital, or whenever he had just arrived home. So, tonight they were both snuggled under a pile of blankets, surrounded by candy and popcorn, whilts watching Charlie's choice movie – Star Wars.

"Stop texting Em," a piece of popcorn lands on Charlie's head, and it's pretty obvious as to who took the shot.

She huffs, with a small frown. "I was just asking if she has my jacket," Charlie shuffles around in her seat, trying to get more comfortable.

"I'm kidding, it's fine." The reassurance in his tone is trying to make up for how he was teasing Charlie earlier – he feels a little bad about it.

"Was that... An _apology?!_ " Charlie jokes, popping the singular piece of popcorn into her mouth, after retrieving it out of her hair.

With a roll of his eyes, Dean leans back in his seat. "Only 'cause I love you too much," he says mid-yawn, his eyes slowly closing.

She chuckles, reaching over to pull the blanket all the way up to Dean's chin. "Sweet dreams... Of Cas," she whispers.

There's just about enough moonlight shining through the drawn curtains for Charlie to catch a glimpse of Dean's smile. "I heard that," he mumbles sleepily, his head making it'd way towards Charlie's rather inviting shoulder.

After not even five minutes, the sound of soft snoring enters Bradbury's left ear. She smiles to herself, reaching for the TV remote in order to turn it off. She sighs contentedly, before letting her own eyes close shut.

"Goodnight, Dean."


	7. Chapter 7

_**a/n Please tell me if this chapter seems too rushed. I just don't want things to be on such a go slow, with too many fillers. Thanks!**_

Days past, and Cas continued to work on Ward 37. He missed Dean, but keeping himself busy was what distracted his thoughts from wandering to the cute patient in room 17. It was stupid, really – I mean, he barely even knew the guy.

But, on his breaks he found himself sipping coffee and staring at the wall... Wondering what Dean's favourite colour was, or what his favourite place to shop might be. He wanted to get to know Dean Winchester. He wanted to know what made him happy, and what made him sad. When was the last time he cried, does he show his sad side? Cas wanted to make him feel happy, and find a cure for all of his medical issues – even if that meant never seeing him at work ever again.

He wanted to see funny photos of Dean as a kid – watching as he blushes, and tells Cas to stop saying how cute he was – and find out what bothers him about his little brother. Why was 'Charlie' his best friend? Was Charlie a boy, or a girl? He wanted to sit and watch Disney movies with Dean, and eat his favourite food... Did he like salted, or sweet popcorn?

Dean Winchester intrigued Castiel, and he was determined to unscramble the puzzle pieces.

"You look like you're writing a novel inside that head of yours," Many waves a hand in front of the glassy, blue eyes, wondering if he's still present in the room.

Snapping out of it, he forces a smile. "Just thinking," he hums.

It's been a fairly busy day, and five weeks since Dean was occupying room 17 – two weeks since Cas bumped into him after his appointment in clinic (no, he wasn't subconsciously counting everyday that passed, pfft.)

"Where were you on your lunch break Friday? I forgot to ask you last night, and I'm not one to pass on my curiosity," she flashes a grin, before continuing to eat her pasta.

"I was visiting my old paediatric ward – Claire is in hospital again, she's, uh.. One of my patients I looked after," Cas pauses, and sees the look of intrigue shimmering across Mandy's eyes, "her Mom has to work, and she's a single Mother... I just like to cheer her up," he finales, unsure of what else to say.

"You're too good for this world, Novak." Mandy sighs, packing up her lunch things.

Cas smiles a little, wondering how this could possibly be true. It's time to go back to work though, so there isn't much time to dwell on what has just been said. He returns his belongings back into his locker, and takes a long drink of water.

It's only 12.29p.m. A little section of Cas' mind wanders back to his previous patient from room 17... Is he alright? Maybe he's watching Aristocats again – crap, Cas never actually got around to watching that with him. Well, professionalism is the key in a hospital – despite how often Castiel quietly wishes to snuggle up on a sofa, and share a bucket of popcorn with this sad patient. Damn, he's falling.

And, he's falling hard.

 ** _Kansas City College – Inside the Nurse's office – 12.32p.m._**

"Well, you do seem to be coming down with something... But, your temperature reads as fine. I'd recommended you head home now though, maybe pop into the doctor's, and then get some rest."

Dean swings his legs back and forth underneath the uncomfortable bed that he's currently perched on the edge of. He slumps his shoulders at what exits the woman's mouth, glancing his eyes towards Charlie – who's stood behind her, her brow furrowed and her eyes wide with worry.

He then looks back to the Nurse, and gives her a nod. "Thanks, I'll make sure I do that." His faux smile fading as soon as he jumps down from the bed. Charlie opens the door for him, and he mumbles a barely audible _'thanks.'_

"See, she basically said I'm fine," he protests, as the pair reach the automatic doors that lead to the outside world.

"Go see a Doctor, and text me what they say." The look on Charlie's face pretty damn near breaks Dean's heart, so he can't not promise her that he will.

Taking a shaky intake of air, he nods once. "Alright, see ya Thursday," Dean smiles – despite the fact he has most likely just lied to his best friend. She suddenly engulfs him in one of her surprise hugs, although Dean is a lot better at predicting when they're going to happen nowadays, having known her for so long.

"Stop acting like I'm gonna die, Char." Dean chuckles, but this predictably irritates his throat. He wriggles himself out of the hug, and turns away from his friend. "See you later!" He calls out, breaking into a light jog as he exits the doors.

Charlie is left standing on her own in the lobby, staring at the doors in front of her. They make a clunking noise as they close, and she watches as Dean disappears out into the distance. "You better be okay," she mutters, frustration building up inside of her, causing her eyes to sting.

Not realising she's already started up her nervous habit of nail biting, Charlie begins to make her way to class – kicking the thoughts of Dean being in medical danger to the back of her mind, and trying to think of receiving a warm hug from Emily instead.


	8. Chapter 8

"Yeah, all they said is I can't have antibiotics again so close to coming off a course... So, yeah they said I might end up recovering in hospital. But, I'm fine for now, I'm just gonna go to bed," Dean tells Charlie down the phone, as he stares at whatever commercial is playing on the TV a few metres away from him.

"Can I come see you tomorrow morning then? It's my study day too, so we can watch a movie," Dean finds it amusing how Charlie replaces her studying with coming to watch movies with him, but some part of him just wants to rest on his own. John and Bobby are both out of town, and Charlie also knows this... So, she won't take 'no' for an answer this time.

He sighs quietly, before answering her, "sure."

"Okay, go get some rest." He thanks her, and then hangs up the phone.

 _ **The next morning, at 11a.m.**_

Charlieimpatiently taps her foot against the concrete step outside Dean's front door – she's been knocking for the past ten minutes, but not too loudly, just incase he was napping on the sofa. After there's still no sign of anyone coming to answer the door, she pulls a key out of her jeans' pocket. Turning it in the lock, she carefully opens and shuts the door behind her.

"Dean?" She calls out quietly at first, looking around the living room. The curtains are all still closed, and the TV is silent.

Next, she checks the kitchen – an empty can of soup is on the table, and there's little grains of rice scattered over the work surface... But, those are evidently leftover from last night. Charlie begins to make her way down the narrow corridor of Dean's little apartment complex. She comes to the bathroom first, and just as her fist rises towards the wooden frame, she hears a weak cough.

"Dean!" She exclaims, relieved to have finally heard signs of life in the place.

" _Charlie?_ How did you get in here?" A voice croaks in confusion, and Charlie bites on her bottom lip.

"The door was unlocked," she lies, hoping that maybe Dean will dismiss his concerns, and just come into the living room to watch a movie with her.

He pauses for a few moments, in order to think. "No, it wasn't..."

"Okay, okay.. Sam got me a key cut about a year ago – for emergencies." She admits, and Dean mentally curses towards Sam and his paranoia that Dean was going to suddenly drop half-dead when he's at home alone.

Charlie goes for the door handle, but a force suddenly stops her. "Let me in, Dean." She pushes against what's stopping her from getting to her friend, but the sound of a lock clicking interrupts her efforts.

"I just wanna be alone today, I'll watch movies tomorrow."

"What's wrong? Please let me in, we don't have to watch anything!" Charlie starts pushing against the door once again, growing fearful as to why Dean isn't cooperating with her this morning.

"Nothing," A blunt reply answers her question, but that's soon proved to be a lie, as the sound of coughing fills the bathroom.

"Don't make me go 'here's Johnny' on you, Winchester!" She hammers on the door with her fist, but flinches backwards as the lock finally slides across the other way. Stepping backwards into the hallway, she watches the door handle turn, and then waits for Dean to exit the bathroom.

Eventually, he appears in the doorway – wearing a hoody and sweatpants, with his hair a disheveled mess. His skin is a sickly shade of pale, and if Charlie hadn't seen him yesterday she'd think he'd been sick for weeks. "You look terrible," a hand immediately claps over her mouth, but Dean doesn't even hear her telling him this, as he's coughing so hard.

"You know what I'm gonna say next," she mumbles, as Dean grips onto the wall for support, "I'll get my car keys," she states – Charlie has an old car, thanks to Bobby, and she often runs Dean around for hospital appointments and such (refusing payment for fuel afterwards, of course.)

As she's turned around and taken a few steps forwards, the sound of quiet sniffling causes her to stop. She slowly turns around, and sees Dean staring down at the floor. "Dean?" She tries to get a look at his face, but he's clearly hiding it for a reason.

"I don't wanna go, Char." His voice wavers, and cracks just a little as he speaks the last word of the sentence.

Charlie walks forwards, and opens her arms. Dean timidly walks into them, and she wraps them around his waist, resting her head into the crook of his neck. She can tell that he's burning up bad, but doesn't point this out right now. "I'm sorry, but we gotta go." She whispers, squeezing him a little harder as she hears him hiccup.

"Let me just get some stuff together," he pulls away from the hug, and wipes at his eyes with his sleeves. Charlie has only ever seen Dean cry three times in the whole time she's known him – and, one of those times was from anger.

She gives him a nod of understanding, and then awaits his return in the hall. Charlie tells Dean to maybe change into something less warm, and then wait outside for her, so that she can go and get her car. It's only a fifteen minute drive to the hospital, and Dean falls fast asleep against the car window literally two minutes into their journey.

Having to nudge Dean awake once they've arrived at the ER makes Charlie want to cry, as he staggers out of the seat. She tries to help him through the automatic doors, but he shrugs her hand away from his own arm. Once they've checked in, they both know the drill – Charlie will argue with any Doctors and Nurses who try to tell her to leave, because she's not _'immediate family.'_ Then she'd sit next to Dean, as countless staff took tests and wrote notes about him. It takes one hour for them to finish doing some tests, and connecting him up to an IV.

About fifteen minutes later, and a porter arrives to take him onto a ward. Charlie's left holding whatever food the Nurses have tried to get Dean to eat – but, he just accepted a few cartons of orange juice, one of which he was chewing on the straw right now. She hurries alongside the bed, squeezing into the elevator which takes them up to the third floor. She presses the button to release the ward's doors, and holds them open along with some help from a nearby nurse.

The porter stops at reception, and grabs the attention of a busy Nurse, who's currently jotting down various notes on his clipboard. "Hey, we got a Dean Winchester here – I got told he's to be taken into a room here," the man snaps his head up at the mention of such a familiar name.

"F – follow me," he stammers, caught by surprise at this sudden arrival... Mandy didn't state the patient's name that was coming up from ER.

Dean's tired eyes flicker open, and a tiny smile spreads across his pale features. "Cas! Did ya miss me?" That usual wit manages to surface, causing Charlie's mouth to physically fall open – he hasn't spoken one word downstairs in ER, let alone crack a _smile._

"Hello, Dean," Castiel smiles back, "Through this way, please," he tells the porter, whilst holding open the door to room 05.

The porter parks his bed (the room was empty, without a bed currently,) and then Cas thanks him. Charlie places everything that she's carrying onto the table nearby the bed, and then takes a seat on the armchair.

"So, did you?" Dean yawns, rubbing at his reddened nose.

Cas laughs, but looking at the tired patient makes him feel... _Upset?_ He sees patients day in and day out, but seeing Dean suffering tugs on his heart strings just a little differently than usual. Damn it, why did this keep happening to him?!

"Of course, now get some rest." He whispers, unsure of whether or not Dean even catches his reply, as his eyes are fully closed again. Cas carefully takes Dean's obs, and then tip-toes his way out of the room, after sending Charlie a reassuring smile.

The door closes behind him, and he feels his breathing slow down a little, and the nervousness in his stomach begins to fade.

 _Well... Dean's back._


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of the afternoon passes by painfully slowly for both Charlie and Cas. Dean barely utters a word for the part of it that he's conscious – since everytime that he does, he'll cough until the point of throwing up, plus the nausea from his fever isn't helping – and to add to this, Cas has to put him on oxygen by five pm.

Despite having already cared for Dean, when Castiel finally takes a seat for his ten minute break, he feels mentally and physically drained. He's never actually seen Dean sick like _this._ _Pull yourself together, Novak. You're a Nurse, for goodness sakes._ When he leaves the staff room, Cas notices that Charlie is leaving Sean's room, and she looks even more upse than the last time he saw her.

"Are you alright?" He stops her mid-walk, and she looks up at him with teary eyes.

She inhales a shaky breath, before explaining to him in a tiny voice what's wrong. "I was supposed to be spending the day with my girlfriend, and she thought that I forgot... Now, we're in an argument, and Dean's asleep again. So, I'm just gonna go home and study." She sniffles, chewing on one of her nails.

"It'll all work out, don't worry. Get some rest, and go see your girlfriend in the morning." Castiel isn't one to give out great advice, but somehow he manages to cause a small smile upon Charlie's sweet face.

"Thank you," she suddenly engulfs him in a hug. Cas feels a little overwhelmed for a few seconds, but as she squeezes him a little harder, he finds himself hugging her back.

Once she's left, Cas checks his fob watch – time to do Dean's obs. Despite the few times that he accidentally woke Dean up in the early hours of the morning to check them the last time he was in – causing him to start ranting, and trying to sleepily swat him away – he hadn't woken up today, so it was unlikely he'd talk to Dean before his shift ended for the day.

After quietly tip-toeing around Dean's bed, he carefully packs up his equipment. Turning around to leave the room, Cas suddenly feels something stopping him. His eyes advert down to his previously free hand, to see that Dean's is now holding onto it. "Please, don't go." A small voice whispers, causing the Nurse to look away from his hand, and towards his patient's face.

Dean's eyes were open, and he was looking around the room – maybe for Charlie, – and then back to Cas, with a pleading glimmer that made Castiel want to wrap his arms around Dean's waist and hug him until he was feeling better. "I – uh," he cannot think of what to say, so instead he just squeezes Dean's hand.

He watches him struggle to keep his eyes open, and then he frees Cas' hand as he starts to cough. "Just sit down, idiot," he splutters inbetween coughs. A small laugh escapes Castiel's lips, after having such a serious expression a few moments ago. He knows that he doesn't need to tend to any other patients – he only has two today, including Dean.

Pulling up the arm chair that Charlie had spent the last five hours sitting in, he sits down. Having no idea what to say or do, he finds himself staring at Dean, awaiting him to speak. "You're not very good at social interaction, are you?" Dean grimaces, as he pulls himself into sitting position.

"Actually... Nah, you're right," he attempts at arguing with Dean's statement, but then decides against it. Crossing his legs, Cas props up his chin with his right hand.

"Where did Charlie go?" Dean blinks, staring into the blue eyes opposite him.

"She go – uh, went home to study," he was about to tell the whole story, but then wondered how knowing that Charlie got into an argument with her girlfriend potentially because of him would make him feel.

Thankfully, he's way too tired to figure out that Cas hesitated in his speech. "Oh," he clears his throat, "I'm bored, let's play a game."

Assuming that he means cards or something, Castiel nods his head in agreement. "Okay, we're gonna play ten questions!" Dean's face lights up into a smile, but his exclamation was clearly too dramatic, because he temporarily loses his voice.

Patiently awaiting his first question, he reaches for a water bottle to hand to Dean. "Do I get to ask you stuff?" The corners of Castiel's mouth tug upwards a little, whilst watching Dean take small sips of the liquid.

"Depends what you wanna ask me," he shrugs. Putting the water bottle beside him on the bed, he looks deep in thought. Of course, he won't ask anything too personal – being someone who keeps to himself a lot, he would never try to pressure anyone else about their personal life.

Thinking to himself that Dean will most likely find him way too boring, Cas almost doesn't hear the first question, "what's your favourite colour?"

He chuckles, not expecting such a casual question to start off with, "blue – I like its calmness,"

"When's your birthday?"

"September eighteenth,"

"Favourite animal?"

"I've always wanted a pet tortoise..." Castiel trails off, genuinely pondering the subject. Dean starts to laugh – a real smile on his face. Despite the fact that this causes him to cough, he actually feels somewhat happy for the first time in a fair few days.

Not realising how funny his statement was, a frown appears upon Cas' face. "You okay?" Dean tosses his inhaler down onto the bed, and looks at the concerned Nurse beside him.

"What do you get at a coffee shop?" He's still giggling quietly underneath his hand, which brings a redness upon Castiel's cheeks. _He's adorable._

"It depends – usually a regular mocha, with chocolate sprinkles. Unless I'm really tired, then I'll just get whatever looks like it has the most caffeine in it," he admits.

Dean pauses for a few moments to catch his breath, and think of his fifth question. "Any hobbies?"

"I sometimes like to take pictures – and, uh, I document stuff in a journal." His cheeks immediately begin to heat up again, as he expects Dean to laugh. But, when he glances upwards at his face, he's wearing a lopsided smile – no laughter.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" A smirk dances across Dean's face, as he raises his eyebrows yo and down in a joking way. Cas immediately bursts into laughter, and Dean's face furrows itself into a frown instead.

"I tried that, didn't work out for me." Memories of high school come flooding back to Cas, as he scoffs a little.

"Boyfriend?" One eyebrow of the Winchester's raises upwards, and then Cas snaps out of his little trip down memory lane.

 _Crap. He's just revealed way too much._

"Not for a while," he answers truthfully – not wanting to expand on the subject of his ex.

Just as Dean opens his mouth to most probably stammer his way through the next question, his room door opens, and in walks Sister Masters. "I wondered if this is where I may find you," she begins, looking from the shocked expression upon Dean's face that he was not so subtly trying to hide, and then towards the shade of baby pink that Cas was wearing on his.

"You haven't signed out – your shift is over," she smirks.

Not wanting his hierarchy to think that he was being unprofessional with his patients, Cas gets up from the armchair so quickly that he almost falls over his own two feet. He also doesn't want to be rude to Dean, so he hurriedly says something along the lines of _'see you soon,'_ walks past Masters, and out of the room.


	10. Chapter 10

_**Sunday morning.**_

Saturday night was truly uneventful – the only time Cas witnessed Dean being awake, was whenever he needed more intravenous asprin for his fever (which wasn't going away anytime soon).

Due to a temporary shortage of staff the next morning, Meg had asked Cas in advance to come in at seven am – one Nurse had called in sick that night (ironic, I know), and Meg was due to help out with some training for student Nurses. So, in order for this to work out properly, he had been cleared to leave work at eleven pm, instead of the usual next morning time.

So, two cups of coffee later, and Castiel is now partially more ready for the morning to come. Rubbing his tired eyes, he clumsily grips the pen and signs himself into the log book. His eyes scan the whiteboard a few centimetres to his right – three patients today, and one of those is Dean. Feeling somewhat relieved at this news, he heads off to check on his other two patients first. _No,_ of course he isn't leaving Dean until last in order to spend the most time with him.

He enters the room quietly, remembering what a rough night the Winchester had experienced just a few hours previous. Sure enough, a light snoring sound fills Cas' ears as he steps foot inside. Dean is lying on his bed, the covers messily thrown off of his body. He's wearing a pair of grey sweatpants, and a navy blue hoody... It isn't until the unsuspecting Nurse grows even closer to the sleeping patient, that he sees that the jacket is unzipped, and no shirt is underneath it.

Trying to refrain from staring at Dean's bare stomach, Castiel forces his eyes up to his face instead. The eyelashes that frame his slightly rosy cheekbones, the freckles that are scattered over and beyond his slightly red nose, and his tousled hair – still wet from the shower he had before falling back to sleep again.

Almost losing his track of thought on why on earth he had entered the room in the first place, both Castiel and Dean are suddenly given a fright at the sound of a mobile phone ringing – causing it to vibrate rather loudly across the table. Dean groans loudly, before groggily sitting up. He looks from Cas, to his phone, and then back to Cas again. A confused look plasters his face, just before he grabs his phone.

"God dammit, Sammy," his eyes roll, and Cas is somewhat alarmed at how he seems to struggle to get his words out loud enough to be heard.

Mentally shaking himself out of his own little world, Novak begins to prepare the things needed for Dean's obs – whilst he's on the phone to his brother. "Hello?" His voice is still sleep ridden, and it makes Castiel feel the need to recompose himself for just a few seconds afterwards.

"You should've known that I'd call Charlie once you didn't answer any of your phones..." A slightly angry tone speaks back, and Dean simply scoffs.

"I'm fine," he mumbles, grimacing slightly at the pain in his throat.

"You're a liar, that's what you are." Sam snaps back – fed up of hearing all of Dean's faux reassurements.

"No, honestly, Sammy! I'm –" the sudden act of raising his voice causes him to begin coughing, and just as he tries to speak again, he ends up sneezing. " – fine!" He sniffles, and Dean can practically _feel_ the eye roll that Sam is most likely giving him risn't now.

"Listen, Jess is travelling down to see some friends tomorrow, so I'll call in. Don't try to argue, because honesty you sound like you'll lose your voice any minute... See you tomorrow, idiot." Sam sighs, hanging up before Dean can injure his vocal cords any worse.

Cas watches as Dean's phone is thrown carelessly onto his bed, and he flops his head upon his pillow. Without speaking, he walks up to the edue his bed in order to take his temperature. Before turning the thermometer on, his eyes scan Dean's notes from last night – he hadn't had a chance to read them earlier, due to taking a little while longer than his other patients than he had originally expected.

"Hmm," he hums, before placing the clipboard onto Dean's bed, "Dr. Wainwright should be around soon,"

"Yeah, well I hope he isn't." Dean grumbles. He crosses his arms like a cross five year old, but then has to uncross them just moments later due to another sneeze.

"Bless you," Cas comments, gently lifting up Dean's arm in order to measure his temperature.

Once this is completed, Dean re-folds his arms again. Castiel takes a look at the reading, and then sighs. "You last had aspirin two hours ago, so unfortunately you can't have anymore just yet – although your temperature is rapidly rising again," he comments.

Dean just shrugs, and then keeps his eyes closed for the rest of the time that Cas is in the room. Just as he's about to place his fingers around the door handle to leave, Dr. Wainwright strides in. "Ah, Nurse... How's he being this morning? Sarcastic, rude..? Rude-er?" He jokes, stepping aside to let the small trail of student doctors inside too.

"Not at all – I think he deserves a lot of rest actually, so you should keep your voice down." Cas replies, and then immediately walks past the Doctor.

He hears the door close behind him as he's walking away from it as fast as humanly possible without running. _Shit, shit, shit._ That was _not_ supposed to come out like that. Checking the time on his fob watch, he quietly sighs with relief when he realises that it's time for him to complete another patient's obs. Thankfully, by the time he's seen to the other pair of people under his care, the back of Dr. Wainwright's blazer can be seen exiting the ward.

Feeling like about seven breaths of relief have now finally escaped him, Cas carefully creeps back towards the room that Dean Winchester is currently situated. He walks in to find Dean looking a little down – but, his frown turns to a playful smirk when he sees who has just walked in. "You're totally in Wainwright's book of people who piss him off!" Dean laughs, and then predictably coughs.

"You know, I'm guessing he told you your diagnosis?" Cas' eyebrow arches upwards, as he tries his best to change the subject.

"You stuck up for me!" Dean's smile keeps getting bigger, and it's really damn hard for Castiel not to smile back.

"Ah, laryngitis – you know, I thought so... Hey, you shouldn't be talking, Winchester!" Cas begins to casually read the notes that have been left on the table, but then his nursing brain eventually grinds into gear.

"Bu –"

"Nope!"

"Cas!" Dean whines, but he just isn't having it.

"Shh!" He brings a finger up to his lips, causing Dean to glare.

Cas passes him the water bottle that was placed on his table, and then he attempts at giving a 'stern' look. "No talking, I'm sure I can find you a notepad and pen." He warns, and then remembers something else.

"Also, take your jacket off – you don't want your fever worsening before I can administer more aspirin,"

Dean mouths _'yes, sir,'_ towards Cas, before smugly taking a sip of his water. Whilst trying to keep a calm looking composure on the outside, Mr. Novak however certainly isn't okay on the inside. He hurries out of the room before becoming too flustered to even walk straight, and then heads straight over to the water cooler for himself.

Taking a plastic cup to his lips, he lets the cool liquid flood it's way down his throat. A sigh follows after, as he stares at the empty lobby in front of him. "Freakin' Winchester," he murmurs under his breath, and then crushes the empty cup – tossing it into the nearby wastebin... And, then – after that small moment for a slight chance at recovery – it's back to work.


	11. Chapter 11

Now that it's Monday again, Cas feels like he could probably fall asleep standing up. THanks to retrieving lots of coffee before work, he's now on a slight caffeine buzz. Seeing that Sister Masters is still at the reception desk, he gives her a small wave and a somewhat chirpy _'morning!'_

"You're only going to be assigned to Dean today – I've been checking up on him a little more often than usual, because his fever got so high last night he was close to experiencing febrile convulsions," she explains – and what was left of Castiel's perked up morning attitude slowly fades away.

"He's finally asleep now though, and I've only just done his obs... They're stable at the moment," she continues to inform, and Cas nods with intent concentration.

She gives him a small smile, and then the pair of them split ways and get to work. Meg usually stays behind a little longer, in order to file paperwork or bid good morning to all of the next shift of Nurses. Cas starts off with quickly peeking in on Dean – Sister Masters was right, he's completely sparko. So, then he heads off to the reception desk to finish off some medical reports that need doing.

About two hours – and eight checkups on a still sleeping Dean – later, someone clears their throat in front of the reception desk. Cas physically jumps, having been so engrossed in what he was reading. "Hi, I'm here to see Dean," Cas recognises the young man from his last visit – Dean's little brother, Sam.

"Ah, yes... He's sleeping at the moment, I'll show you where though," he places the papers back into the locked drawer that they had come from, and then walks around towards the front of the desk.

The receptionist would arrive soon, so Cas would probably finish reading another time. He leads Sam to room five, and then quietly opens up the door. "He's running a high fever, and has laryngitis, so don't let him talk to you," Castiel whispers, still holding the door open for Sam.

"Thanks," Sam mumbles, walking towards the curtain that's separating him from his brother. Having just done an obs check on his patient, Cas leaves Sam to see his brother alone for a while.

Around two hours later and it's time for Castiel to make his way back to room five. The previous time he had been in there to do Dean's observations he was stirring, so he wonders if he'll finally have woken up now. When he pushes open the door, he hears Sam's voice, and that familiar coughing noise that he's grown so accustomed to by now.

Sam is laughing about something – most likely why Dean is coughing – and, when Cas walks around the curtain he sees that the elder Winchester is smiling too. Forcing his eyes away from Dean's shirtless torso, he stands there awkwardly. "Sorry to interrupt," he murmurs, stepping closer to Dean.

 _'No problem'_ Deanscrawlsonto the notepad that is resting on his knees, and then holds it up for Castiel to read – a smile upon his face.

Novak automatically smiles back, "how're you feeling now? Meg tells me you had a pretty rough night," he speaks. Looking towards Sam – who's wearing a frown – he begins to regret saying this in front of the protective younger sibling.

Dean quickly drops the notepad and pen, and then displays a thumbs up to Cas. "Let's have a look then," Castiel murmurs, placing the thermometer underneath Dean's arm. There's a silence looming over the trio, until the themometer beeps, and Cas removes it.

"Hmm, still a little high.." He speaks more to himself than anyone else.

"Damn, I knew I shouldn't have eaten those pot brownies from Jess," Dean whispers, and Sam looks like he'd slap his brother if he wasn't lying in a hospital bed so sick right now. Cas literally has to bite his tongue in order to hold his laughter in – he already feels like Sam is wary of him.

Hurriedly distracting himself by checking his notes, he sees that Dean is due another dose of aspirin in just fifteen minutes. He then checks Dean's blood pressure, takes his pulse, and counts his breathing.

Telling him that he will return in fifteen minutes, he leaves the brothers alone again. As he enters the lobby area, he spots the receptionist mono-toning to two females. One is a redhead, and the other has shorter, brunette hair. They're holding hands, and he can hear one of them demanding to speak to 'Cas.'

His brow furrows slightly, as he makes his way over towards the mystery confrontation, his brain suddenly clicks. He recognises the voice and hair to be Charlie, and assumes that the girl she's with must be her girlfriend. "Charlie?" He stands next to her, and then she turns to face him.

"Your receptionist won't let us take pizza to Dean!" She exclaims, surprising Cas wit's her frustrated tone of voice.

"They tried sneaking it in," the woman adds, and Charlie huffs.

She releases her hand from her girlfriend's, and then folds her arms. "He deserves some decent food, and I wanna apologise to him for acting so grumpy the other day," Charlie explains to Castiel, who isn't exactly sure of what to say.

"I'm sure it'll be fine – and, if it isn't, blame me." He speaks to the receptionist, who simply rolls her eyes.

"Fine, as long as I keep my job," the bleached blonde shrugs.

Cas gestures for Charlie to follow him, and of course she starts chatting away to him as if that small argument had never happened. "This is Emily by the way, my girlfriend – Em, this is Cas." She introduces, lacing her fingers back with Emily's once again.

"Um, hi," having never been great with social interactions, Castiel finds his voice shrinking just a little.

" _The_ Cas?" Emily whispers for only Charlie to hear. Charlie nods, and wiggles her eyebrows. Thankfully, the oblivious Nurse has his back to the girls, just before they stop outside Dean's door.

He stops before opening the door, and turns to face the pair. "I just need to prep some more IV fluids," he begins, "also, Dean's brother is in there."

"Awesome, I haven't seen Sam in ages!" Charlie grins, just as Cas places his hand on the door handle. He lets the girls go in, and hears everyone exchanging greetings happily (he guesses that Dean is writing his).

Walking off towards the medicines room, he feels a little happier than he did this morning. It may seem strange, but he wants Dean to be happy. You know, as happy as you can be when you're stuck in hospital.

As evening draws in, Cas hears the small gaggle of family and friends walking out of Dean's room – _yes, he can hear them all the way from the reception desk._ He's currently sat in the office chair behind the desk, writing in his journal. He's seen to Dean as and when needed, as well as finished all of his paperwork, so he's using his spare time to write up a few little titbits.

"Bye, Cas!" Charlie's giggling about something, and leaning her head on her girlfriend's shoulder.

He waves to the smiley trio, and each one of them wave back. It's almost half past five, so Dean will be well and truly worn out by now. Castiel watches as Sam holds the door open for the girls, and soon they're gone, leaving the ward in the quiet again. A small sigh leaves Cas' lips, and he places his pen on the desk.

"Honestly, the whole lot of them are insane – I can't imagine them all on a night out," Mandy appears before Cas, chuckling as she talks.

He smiles back, then rubbing his eyes. "I don't think I _want_ to imagine that," he laughs along with her.

"One hour to go, and then you look like you could do with a full night's sleep... And, maybe a full day after that," Mandy points out, and Cas can't exactly disagree.

He's just about to think of something witty to reply with, but one of her patients has pressed their nurses button. "I swear to god, if they ask me for a beer one more time..." She mutters under her breath, speed walking away from the desk and towards the room she's been summoned to.

Shaking his head at the strange patient she's had to deal with today, Castiel stands up from his desk. He decides to prepare everything for Dean's night nurse, considering he has some extra time on his hands. He writes up some notes, and sorts out a list of medicine that he will need. After doing one more set of obs on Dean – who's busy listening to his Walkman, and mouthing to the words instead of singing (Cas wishes he could hear Dean sing, but doubts that he'd even think of doing it in front of him anyway) – Nurse Novak resorts to helping out Mandy for his last half an hour.

When the clock reads 7.00p.m. and the night Nurses start filing in, Castiel feels compelled to check on Dean one last time. The Winchester, having been extremely bored for the past half an hour that he was alone, had been making the use of his half blank notepad. As his Nurse hears the sound of soft snoring, he creeps quietly inside room five.

Tip-toeing towards the sleepy patient, curiosity gets the best of him, as he spots that Dean must have fallen asleep midway between writing something out on the pad. It's resting on Dean's bare chest, with the pen still in his slightly open hand. A tiny chuckle emits from Castiel's lips, as his eyes of blue scan whatever random stuff Dean has written from his boredom.

 ** _'Dean's amazing to-do list:'_** is the first part that he reads, making him want to laugh yet again. He goes back to reading it, considering that a to-do list isn't really anything that will be super private.

 ** _'Dean's amazing to-do list:_**

 ** _\- ask Cas for more jello (the only decently half edible thing around here)_**

 ** _\- maybe eat some pizza_**

 ** _\- make sure Jess is baking me cookies_**

 ** _\- fight Sam_**

 ** _\- tell Charlie she's too good for this planet, maybe her and Em can emigrate to Mars and be the queens_**

 ** _\- ask Cas on a date(?)'_**

 _Wait... what?!_


	12. Chapter 12

For the whole of freaking Sunday night, Castiel could barely receive a minute or two of shut eye. When he did finally drift of, he would fall into a nightmare of getting fired, and laughed at by Dean – who, in the dream would tell Cas that his 'to do list' was a prank. Eventually, his body and mind were too exhausted to dream any longer, so he fell into a deep sleep in the mid-hours of the early morning.

Dean, however, was still sleeping like a baby at this point. In fact, he didn't wake up until four am, when someone was disturbing him by poking and prodding something underneath him arm. "Cas?" He sleepily murmurs, rolling over onto the side to where the unidentified person was prodding him from.

"Sorry, just plain old Meg." A voice answers back, and Dean groans in response.

He sits up in the bed, causing Meg to grow impatient at how he's not sitting still for his obs. As she continues to work around his bed, Dean's tired eyes are slowly becoming more accustomed to the dark surroundings... Which is when he glances down at the notepad that's fallen onto the floor to his right. Not taking any chances on Meg even thinking about having a look at it, he dives down to retrieve it in a flash.

"What the hell are you doing, Winchester?!" Meg gasps, as he sits back up again – wincing from the pain. Thankfully, he has long enough arms to reach downwards without pulling any tubes out... Something that Meg had been afraid of happening.

"I dropped my notepad, I need it to speak... Remember?" His eyes roll, as he snaps the pad closed. Despite having already been on vocal rest for over twenty four hours, the barking cough is returned just seconds after he finishes his sentence.

Meg refrains herself from cussing, with a bite of her tongue, and then reaches out for Dean's inhaler. "Stop being an idiot," she tuts, awaiting Dean to start breathing normally again before she speaks for a second time. "I'm just going to get you some more aspirin, and then I'll be back to check on you later, try to get back to sleep."

He nods appreciatively, and then sinks back againsf the small amount of comfort that his hospital pillow rewards him with, once she's gone. All that he can think about is who might have seen the note... Did Meg already see it? No, surely not. She'd have that sly smirk upon her face – the kind that is her total tell for when she knows something that she most likely shouldn't.

Did Cas see it? Well, Dean didn't write the list until he'd completed his last set of obs before his shift ended... Yeah, that's right. Dean was busy listening to his Walkman, and then he'd waved goodbye back to him. But, that was about twenty minutes before shift change... What if Castiel had come in at seven pm, to cover a Nurse who was late?!

 _Crap, crap, crap._

Well, in just under three hours Dean would know. Surely Cas can't hide such a discovery for long... _Can he?_

That same morning that Dean lie awake staring at the ceiling with a knot of worry in his stomach, Cas awoke with good intentions. He left for work early – with the plan to down more coffee than he usually would consume before work – and headed to the corner shop, just near his apartment. After purchasing what he needed, he headed off to work with a small skip in his step.

The hospital is a forty minute drive from where he lives just outside the city, and he usually hums along to whatever is playing on the radio – some would call it an annoying habit. Now that he's pulling up into the staff car park, he climbs out of the car to be greeted by the early morning sun beating down on him. A small smile spreads across his face, as he starts the walk towards the hospital building itself.

As soon as he arrives onto the ward, he sees that Meg is busy talking to Mandy. A tiny hint of doubt begins to grow inside of him, but this is soon dispersed as he checks the patient list. He still has Dean. "Morning!" He waves to both females, as he swipes the clipboard for his Winchester off the desk, and strides his way towards the room.

Both women give each other a small look of confusion, before going back to what they were chatting about before. Once Cas is safely inside Dean's room, he's hit with that familiar aroma of cough drops and cologne – as well as there often also being a hint of Vicks this time on his stay. He places the white, plastic bag upon the table at  
the end of the bed, and quietly goes about checking Dean's observations.

"Go away, Meg," a murmur almost makes the unsuspecting Nurse jump, as Dean begins to stir in his sleep.

Cas ignores his mumbles, and removes the blood pressure cuff from his arm. "You checked my obs already, let me sleep," his tone grows grumpier, and Castiel remembers that he shouldn't actually be talking.

"You have a perfectly good notepad to communicate with, you know," he informs – but, begins to feel regret at speaking of the reminder.

"Cas?" Dean doesn't seem awake enough yet to put two and two together.

 _"Dean,"_ he retorts, now checking his temperature.

Squirming around even more, the Winchester rolls over in order to face his Nurse. "Would you hold still?" Castiel huffs impatiently, having to adjust the instrument underneath Dean's arm.

"No," Dean smirks... It's really hard to stay mad at such a cute face.

"Use the notepad!" Cas scolds, removing the thermometer – his temperature has actually gone down a little.

Dean reaches for it, and then what he writes was kind of what Cas had already seen coming – _**'no :)'** _ to be precise.

As Castiel counts his breathing, he notices that Dean is writing something else. He looks at the paper when it's turned to face him. _'Did you come into my room when I was asleep last night, just before the end of your shift?'_

A panicked feeling washes over him, as he struggles to look Dean in the eye. "Uh, no... Why do you ask?" He knows that denying it makes him sound even more guilty.

Cas shifts his weight from foot to foot, clearing his throat. Dean narrows his eyes at him, and suddenly laughs. _**'What's in that bag?'**_ He finally notices. Castiel mentally curses himself, and currently feels like kicking himself in the shin.

"N – nothing,"

 ** _'Did you get me jello?'_**

"Okay, I saw the note!" Cas blurts out without before taking a single breath.

His eyes slowly travel upwards to meet Dean's – they look worried, somehow. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to pry," he mutters.

Nurse Novak has never been one for confrontations, and he can already feel himself growing more and more uncomfortable by the second. With Dean's eyes practically burning through his skull, he gulps once more.

"I'll be back to do your obs in a little while," he speaks whilst exhaling one, long breath.

Not stopping to register the Winchester's reaction, Cas makes a hurried beeline for the door. Just as his skin makes contact with the metal, he hears a small, "Cas?"

Hesitantly stopping himself from pushing the handle down and running away from his fears, Castiel stops in his tracks. "Yes?" Some part of him is telling him to turn around – and, as if against his own mind's will, he feels his feet start to change position.

"Will you?" The distance between himself and Dean doesn't stop him from suddenly wanting to hurl. The nervous butterflies in his stomach are taking flight as soon as these words are uttered – but, Cas must be mistaken. Surely he's talking about something else, maybe he just wants him to watch a movie later.

Realising that he's just been staring ahead of him for the past thirty or so seconds, Cas eventually swallows and clears his throat. "W – will I, uh... what?" He scratches the back of his neck, going over each and every possibility of what Dean may (or _may not_ ) be about to say.

"Date me?"


	13. Chapter 13

_"Will you?"_

 _"W – will I, uh... What?"_

 _"Date me?"_

Castiel's heart starts to quicken, and his breath hitches in his throat. His eyes dart towards Dean's – staring at him, awaiting an answer. "Y – yes," is all he can muster up. How embarrassing... I mean, of course Cas wants to date him! He wants to go on cute, lame dates.. Ask Dean about his favourite things, and then buy them for him. But, something in his brain makes him go all clammy and stuttery when it comes to the Winchester asking him such a question.

Dean – who has literally been holding his breath in anticipation of Cas' answer – is so surprised that he accepted, he has to ask again. "You will?" the way his brow furrows causes Castiel to want to run up to him, hug him, and shout 'of course!' But, he refrains on doing so.

"Yes, I will." He finds the confidence to securely look Dean in the eye, as he nods with an added smile.

"I will date you, Dean Winchester."

 ** _Half an hour later._**

Dean's mind feels rather sleepy, but he cannot even close his eyes nor think about going to sleep right now. Instead, he pulls out his phone and clicks onto his messaging thread with Charlie. Taking a deep breath inwards, he starts to type out a text message to her.

 **To: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **7.51a.m.**

 **I kinda need to see u, got some news !**

He presses send, and then awaits for her reply. Unsure as to why she may be awake at this early time of day, he's surprised to hear his text tone sound out as soon as five minutes later. He opens the message, and his eyes scan the screen.

 **From: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **7.56a.m.**

 **omG what I'm in pyjamas and it'll take me like an hour to get ready, can't u call? I'll be there at nine though**

 **To: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **7.57a.m.**

 **Kinda can't speak as I lost my voice :)) I wanna tell you in person, so I'll wait**

 **From: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **7.59a.m.**

 **OH,YGOD DID GOU ASK CAS OUT?**

 **To: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **8.00a.m.**

 **Just come in!**

 **From: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **8.02a.m.**

 **that fucking means yes oh my god you did I'm going to shower see you in a minute DEAN OH MT GOD**

 **To: Charlie (is the best) :D**

 **8.05a.m.**

 **you're an idiot, see you soon x**

When Charlie arrives at the hospital, she literally runs towards Dean's room so fast that the receptionist doesn't have time to register the flash of red that has just zoomed by. Thankfully, Mandy has her back, and tells the receptionist thay it's just Dean's close friend, and not to worry about going after her to investigate what's going on.

She burts into Dean's room, and almost trips over her own feet as she tumbles towards his bed. "Tell me – I mean, uh.. Write me everything!" She corrects, bouncing up and down on the spot, like an over excited child.

Dean writes down exactly what happened, yawning sleepily in the process. It seems that his brain hasn't fully processed the fact that he's dating his crush, and Charlie can see that he needs a rest. "Listen, I'm gonna go get some food 'cause I skipped breakfast to rush here... I'll be back," she leans in to hug her best friend, before skipping out of the room.

As she exits the door – a semi-permanent grin plastered across her face, – she feels herself bump into someone. " _Shit,_ sorry!" She gushes, not realising who she's hit.

"Oh, no problem," a shaky voice replies.

Charlie looks up at the guy, and her eyes widen at the flushed victim. "Cas! Uh, I mean – Nurse Novak," she switches her tone to a more serious one, glancing around to make sure that nobody is watching them. "Are you okay?" She whispers, noting how anxious his persona is coming across as.

He nods, his eyes flitting here and there... And, anywhere but into hers. "Wanna talk? Dean's sleepy," she explains. Not waiting for him to answer, Charlie takes him by the hand and leads him into the nearby empty room (where visitors and family members can sit and wait, or make a hot drink.)

Charlie goes to sit down with him, but instead he stays standing. "I'm afraid that I acted too weird around Dean! He uh, he um... He –" Castiel starts to trip over his words, and become so embarrassed that small tears prick up and into his eyes.

"He asked you out," she adds, and his head snaps upwards to face her.

"Best friends, dude," she shrugs, and Cas manages a small smile. "Anyway, why're you worried? I mean, I'm assuming you accepted?" She questions, her brow furrowing as her eyes stay concentrated on any facial expression that he makes.

"I just get nervous with confrontations, and well, I haven't dated since my ex... Since we split up, and of course I wanna date Dean! But, I feel like I gave him a bad impression when he first asked me," getting it off of his chest brings a little weight away from his shoulders, and then he takes a seat next to the kind redhead.

She sits silently for a few moments, needing time to think of a reassuring enough reply. "I'm sure he gets that you were nervous.. He wrote down what happened, and I think he's kinda afraid you don't wanna date him, and that maybe you're hesitant and that he likes you more. When he wakes up, just go explain to him that it's mutual, you'll do fine!" Her smile makes Castiel feel relaxed, and her words even calm him a little.

He sighs a prolonged sigh, before raising his shoulders back up again. "You're right. Thank you, Charlie," his face finally lights up in a smile.

Deciding that maybe it's best not to just hug her – although Charlie is very well known to give surprise hugs herself – so, he stands up from his chair and takes a few steps towards the door. "I'll talk to him, I promise." He nods, and she smiles back.

Getting back to work, he feels a little more content wit's ghe whole situation. Dean sure is lucky to have a best friend like Charlie.

 _ **one week later.**_

Of course, with Dean not being able to talk and all (he got worse just the day after asking Cas out, and literally lost his voice to the point where just a small squeak would sound out everytime he tried to speak), it was a little hard to for them to interact. A lot of mornings when Castiel entered his room, Dean was just sleeping... So, Cas would leave him a pot of jello, and a little positive note for when he awoke.

In fact, Dean felt so bad for not being able to speak to his new boyfriend (after Cas' talk with him, they were both in mutual agreement that they'd been crushing on each other for rather a while, causing a blush to form on the pair's cheeks,) that he kept on trying to pluck up the courage to ask Cas to stay one night after his shift and watch a movie... But, then he felt bad for asking him to use up his free time. So, for now he just left it.

It's now the Monday after they had both agreed to date, and Dean is feeling rather better. His fever broke on Saturday, and he got his voice back yesterday too. But, as soon as Cas enters his room, a feeling of panic settles inside of him.

"Dean?" His eyes frantically dart to and fro, looking at his bed, and then around the room, with utmost confusion.

As he quickly steps forwards and past the curtain, a loud voice yells "Boo!" Frightening Cas _so_ badly, that everything that he was carrying flies into the air.

"Why would you do that?!" His voice comes out in a mere squeak, due to being so overwhelmed from the sudden fright.

Dean however, clearly doesn't see the scary side... As, he's currently clutching at the nearby table and laughing so hard that there's tears brimming around his green eyes. "Cas, oh my god... You should've seen your face!"

A glare are flashes upon Castiel's facial expression, before he bends down to pick everything up. Dean quickly sees that Cas clearly isn't anywhere near as amused as he is, and also crouches down to help him. Unfortunately his amount of laughing hasn't done himself any good, and as soon as he tries to apologise out loud, he starts coughing uncontrollably. "Sorry, I – didn't mean to – piss you off!" He states in between coughs, trying to hand Cas different things that he had dropped, whilst trying to catch his cough with his hand at the same time.

"Leave the multitasking to me," Cas jokes, pulling Dean up from the floor, and leading him back to his bed.

Handing him his inhaler, a small smirk plays upon his lips. "I forgive you," he watches Dean's sarcastic eyebrow raise whilst he takes his medicine, and then carelessly throws it back down again (he does this a lot.)

"Cool! I wanna go for a walk, I'm bored... You're not allowed to leave the ward though." He rambles on, swinging his legs back and forth under the bed.

Castiel begins to feel bad that he can't take Dean somewhere – he doesn't exactly fancy getting fired though – and decides to make an offer. "We could do something after my shift? I mean, I'm not sure what though..." Beginning to feel as if his offer has been a fail, Dean quickly interrupts.

"I hear the canteen downstairs does a mean coffee," he jokes.

"Alright, coffee at seven pm?"

"Hey, is this our first date... So to speak?" A chuckle escapes from Dean's lips, and Cas thinks to himself for a moment.

"I guess it is... I'll pick you up at seven," he jokes, noting the genuine smile that Dean is wearing.

"I'll be there – casual attire though, I don't tend to pack fancy when I come here."

"Well, then... It's a date."


	14. Chapter 14

For some unknown reason – I mean, it's not like a _date_ date, – Dean feels his stomach doing flips, as he sits at the edge of his hospital bed. He wishes he could just escape these four walls, and go somewhere fancy with Cas. Would he even like fancy? Dean doubts he's one for getting piss drunk, and embarrassing oneself whilst doing karaoke.

In fact, he's so deep in his thoughts, that he barely hears the door open just a few metres away from him. "Thanks for, uh, stickin' around.." Cas attempts at a joke, and Dean can't help but snort.

"You're bad at small talk," he notes. Standing up from his bed, the Winchester walks up to Cas.

He's a fair few inches taller – despite being younger – and for the first time ever, Castiel gulps with intimidation. "I guess usually I'd hold your hand, but – well, I guess you're not a germ freak... Like, considering your job and all," Dean chuckles, beginning to ramble. "Um.. What was I saying?" He clears his throat, and steps away from Cas' amused gaze.

Cas' fingers gently twitch towards Dean's hand, and such a light touch causes Dean's cheeks to heat up. The guy who never rambles neither stutters, is a total confident member of society... Ruined just by a brushing of fingers. "L – let's go," Dean speaks up before he ends up making some accidental, inhuman sound instead.

They leave the ward without being seen by anyone else, since it's a fairly quiet evening. "Shit, have you even eaten dinner yet?" Dean breaks the silence, a few hallways down. The pair are walking close together, but far enough way to seem like casual friends to a simple passerby.

"No... Do you wanna eat something? I mean, besides jello," a chuckle parts from Castiel's lips.

"Shut up, would you eat some of the death food that they dish up?" Castiel almost chokes on his own saliva at Dean's name for the hospital food. He nods his head though, as if a kind of gesture to say _'touché.'_

They drop the subject after this, and walk to the nearest elevator in the quiet once again. Both reaching out for the elevator at the same time, their hands bump. Noticing that they both press the button exactly the same way – with their index finger knuckle, – a small smile plays upon each person's lips. "Who's gonna press the freakin' thing?" Dean laughs, as they both reach for it again, after a moment of pausing.

"I'll press it," Cas makes a sound that sounds like a little giggle, and Dean's butterflies take flight yet again.

The button lights up green, and Cas steps back again. He watches the pair of feet that don't belong to him, rocking back and forth on their heels, and shuffling along the floor every now and then. The air is eerily silent – night time in the hospital is always like this. It makes a change to the hustle and bustle of patients during the day, but can be a little creepy when you're walking around in the dark.

When the elevator eventually opens its doors (after what seems like a century has passed), Castiel steps back to let Dean in first. He mumbles a _'thanks,'_ in response to him, and then presses the floor button once they're both inside. They arrive back on floor one, and walk to the caffateria in sync.

"Did you bring your inhaler?" Cas asks, as Dean starts to cough.

"Hey, Novak? Switch off your Nurse responses – you're offically off duty," Dean's eyes of green roll, and then he pulls his inhaler out of his pocket, waving it sarcastically towards Castiel with his eyebrows raised now.

Cas huffs quietly, awaiting for Dean to finish using it before he responds to his sarcasm. "If we're gonna date, I gotta be allowed to worry about you." He states rather matter of fact-ly.

He isn't quite sure as to how the Winchester will respond, but he didn't expect Dean's facial expression to drop slightly. Once he realises that he's being watched, he plasters on a usual faux smile. "I don't want anyone else to do that," he laughs it off as if his feelings are casual... But, Cas can tell that he's thoughts aren't positive right now.

"You're never a burden to anyone," he replies before he can think of an easier way to word it.

"Let's not do this now," a small sigh leaves Dean's lips, as they stop outside the caffateria doors.

Castiel nods once, before pushing open one of the doors. He holds it open for his boyfriend, and then proceeds to catch him up afterwards. Once they've ordered their drinks, Cas also gets some fries. They pick a table at the edge of the room, but it's pretty empty anyway. There's a few patients dotted about with assumed family members, and a small group of ambulance workers eating a late dinner together.

As they sip their drinks, and awkwardly look into each other's eyes every now and then, Cas decides that he'd better break the ice. "So, is this the part where I finally get to ask you some questions?" His memory has travelled back to the evening he revealed to Dean that it's fairly obvious he doesn't date girls... Which, may just have lead to this exact moment in time too.

"Depends what kinda questions," an eyebrow raise and smirk appear upon Dean's face. He takes another drink from his coffee, and then gestures for Cas to talk again.

Having never been one to open up about his personal life, he begins to shuffle his feet under the table... A habit of his that he does when uncomfortable about a situation. Sensing Dean's unease, Cas takes a long drink from his own polystyrene cup. "You know, we could just talk about something else," he shrugs, trying to make it subtle that he doesn't want to pressure, or make Dean feel unhappy.

"Well, I've apparently got plenty of time for talking – they're keeping me in another week, my white blood cell count is currently chilling in hell... Oxymoron intended," Dean informs, and then wryly laughs.

"Yup, and they don't want you to go home, catch something else, and get worse... Immune systems, huh?"

"Wow, you make it hard to forget you're my nurse," Dean jokes, placing his empty coffee cup towards the edge of the table.

A hint of pink paints across Cas' cheeks, "sorry," he apologises sheepishly. Sighing a little, he looks up into Dean's eyes.

"When you're feeling more up to it, I wanna take a week off and get to know you," he speaks his mind. Suddenly realising that the way his hands are positioned below his chin are slightly making him look like a crushing high schooler, he quickly shifts in stance.

Continuing to concentrate on Dean's mannerisms, he sees Dean's body language intense a little. "I'd like that... Yeah."


	15. Chapter 15

**_Wednesday, 10.07a.m._**

Dean bores his eyes towards the television screen a few metres away from him, flicking through the few channels that are available. As usual – there's nothing on. Flashing his eyes towards the door, he then checks the time on the wall clock... It isn't time for Cas to come and check n him yet.

Yesterday, the pair came to the conclusion that they're 'casually dating.' Castiel explained that he didn't want to tell anyone yet, in fear that either one of them would be sent to another ward. They also both agreed that it'll be a lot easier to date and get to know each other, as soon as Dean is discharged from the hospital. So, as soon as Dean gets sent home, Cas is going to book one week off (he saves up his holiday time each year, incase something important comes up... And, of course his new boyfriend is of upmost importance to him.)

As the sound of his room door opening fills the air, a frown appears upon Dean's face. He awaits for the identity of the person to be revealed, and as soon as he sees the warm smile and dirty blonde hair appear from behind the curtain, he knows just who has come to see him. "Ellen!" He exclaims happily, immediately switching off the TV.

"A little birdy told me you were back again... Laryngitis, huh? What is this then, the fifth time?" She heads towards the chair beside his bed, and takes a seat.

Dean ponders for a few seconds, "seven... It's the fifth time I've been hospitalised with it," he corrects, and she chuckles lightly.

"I still remember the first time you came in with it..." She trails off, her mind wandering to a further away time.

 ** _3rd June, 1982._**

 ** _7.02a.m._**

As Ellen scribbles down her name and the correct time into the signing in book, she looks up from the clipboard to see one of her colleagues walking her way. "Dean's back," a heavy sigh falls from her throat.

Ellen simply raises an eyebrow, prompting her friend to go on. "Well, his Mom had to leave yesterday evening as soon as he got to sleep.. Apparently her job threatened to fire her if she takes anymore time off, and she's already pushed her luck. He's been crying for her since half past five," she finishes off the explanation, pushing some messy strands of blonde away from her eyes.

"Go home and sleep, you deserve it." Ellen sends her a half smile, placing a hand upon her shoulder, before she then starts to make her way towards Dean's room. He usually stays in a side room on the paediatric ward that Ellen works at, due to his immune system being so fragile.

There's only eight beds on the main ward here, and then four side rooms... So, the work here doesn't usually get too hectic. Well, not capacity wise anyway. As she pushes the door open to the room, a small sound enters her ears. You know the sound that kids make when they've been crying for so long that they're just hiccuping and shakily gasping for air? That sound. The exact copy of it.

The sight of Dean trying to fight his oxygen mask off in order to suck his thumb makes Ellen feel the need to tear up – but, she's a Nurse. You have to stay professional. She nods her head towards the other Nurse who is currently trying her best to calm him down, and then prepares herself to take over. The other woman smiles sympathetically at her, and then leaves to tend to her own patients for the day.

"So, someone told me that you had come back into hospital... And, that your Mommy had to work? And, I was thinking, wow! What a brave kid, staying all on his own.. But, then I remembered that it's Dean Winchester! The bravest soldier, like, _ever._ "

Dean looks up from where he was just gripping his teddy bear's hand, and realises who's caring for him today. He flings his arms around the woman, and snuggles his head into her chest. She ruffles his hair, and then makes sure to smile when he lets go of her.

"I want M – Mommy," he tries to talk without his fading sobs interrupting, but it doesn't quite work.

"She's gotta work for a little bit... Do you want some jello?" She quickly changes the subject, trying to distract him from his main fears.

Dean shakes his head, his dirty blonde hair flying around. "No, I be sick last night," he folds his arms and huffs – clearly frustrated that he can't have his favourite snack this morning.

"You didn't eat anything this morning?" Ellen asks, and watches Dean shake his head once again.

She then proceeds to read over his notes – laryngitis, respiratory distress last night, already on intravenous fluids, antibiotics and steroids for an accute chest infection. Preventing a sigh from leaving her body, she looks back up at Dean again. "You want any games to play with?" Another question to try and break him out of his sadness spell.

"No thanks, just my Mom." He answers so matter of factly, leaning back in his bed.

"I'm just gonna do your obs, okay, sweet?" He nods in response, holding out his arm already for her to take his blood pressure. She smiles at how well he behaves – with her mainly, as this isn't always the case with other hospital staff... Especially new members.

As soon as she's finished, Dean's little eyes are beginning to flutter closed. Attempting to leave the room safely without any disturbance towards his sleep is a little too hopeful though, as Dean begins to cough just seconds later. She hurries back towards him, and repositions the oxygen mask after gently propping him more upright.

"You're gonna need a few more pillows, bud," she says, rubbing his back as he starts to cry out for his 'Mommy' again. Due to his fever, he's a lot more distressed than usual... Ellen wishes she could just comfort him for hours – but, she has two more patients to see, that she's already growing more and more behind on.

Helping him out with his inhaler (Mary – his Mom – usually sings 'Hey Jude' for him, so Ellen quietly hums it), he then calms himself down. His eyes slowly begin to close again, and Ellen shushes soothingly, to try and stop him from fighting against the sleep.

Clearly exhausted from waking up so early, he finally falls back into his pillows and is sparko within half a minute. Ellen quickly runs to go and get him some extra pillows, and then hopes that he will sleep for a few well needed hours.

 ** _Present day._**

"Yeah... I don't really remember that much," Dean shrugs, scratching the back of his neck.

She smiles at him – proud of how far he's come. There used to be moments she'd have to take herself away from the situation once it had been dealt with, and have a little cry in the toilets. When his brother Sam was born, Ellen saw a complete change in Dean's attitude. Bobby (their surrogate Uncle) would bring Sam to visit Dean as much as possible, and he'd fall asleep at the end of Dean's bed during the evening hours. They'd laugh and play games when Dean was feeling much better – Ellen often had to tell them off for wrecking the ward's playroom, whilst trying not to laugh out loud.

Sometimes her daughter, Jo, would come by the ward after school – her Dad passed away a few years ago in her childhood, and Ellen couldn't always afford the childcare for her. Jo would sneak into Dean's room, and make him laugh by doi stupid stuff, and sometimes she'd sing to him – especially if he was sleepy. They're both around the same age, so when Dean was seven, she was five... Etc. They became to be like sisters, as Ellen became like a somewhat Motherly figure to Dean.

After Mary tragically passed on in 1985, Dean would only talk to his close family members, Jo and Ellen (well, barely. I mean, there were some days that he wouldn't utter a single word at all.) This went on for almost a year – and, thankfully after a handful of paediatric psychiatrists, a lot of support from Doctors and Nurses, John and Bobby's determination and Sam's constant love... He miraculously stared talking almost normally again. It took halfway into the new year for him to form proper sentences again, whilst maintaining a healthy amount of eye contact... But, they got there eventually.

But, just how that happened it a story for another time. A story that maybe Cas may learn of sometime in the future... Or maybe not.

Although, Dean has never told anyone who wasn't already there at the time. So, maybe Castiel will never be able to fully piece that jigsaw together. At least not for a very long time.


	16. Chapter 16

**_5th June, 1982._**

 ** _11.16a.m._**

Due to coming off his oxygen this morning, Dean is currently holding the hand of his teddy bear in his mouth – a habit that he picked up sometime last year, when his Mom and Dad got rid of his pacifier. He's using his non-bandaged up hand to draw with his new set of crayons from Bobby.

The door to his room opens, and his eyes dart upwards – full of hope, incase his Mom has come to see him early... But, it's only Ellen. "What're you drawing there, little Picasso?" She questions, heading towards his bedside.

He drops his teddy out of his mouth, and looks up at her, "Superman and me... What's a Passo?" His brow furrows in the most adorable way, and Ellen chuckles in response.

"Someone who makes awesome pictures, like you." Ellen responds. She proceeds to take his temperature, watching Dean squirm around in annoyance as he tries to continue drawing. His fever is still fairly problamatic, but his other obs are slowly cozing back down to normal now.

He suddenly starts to cough a little bit, so he drops his crayon and picks up the sippy cup beside his drawing materials (it has a superman sticker on it, _obviously._ ) "You okay?" Ellen asks him, as he rubs his eyes after having some water.

Dean nods once, and then goes back to concentrating on his drawing. "I'll be back soon, press that button if you need anything!" She smiles – happy to see him sitting up and not looking so distressed, like he was just two days before. He's only usually that upset right at the start of his sickness, sometimes even when Mary has been staying right beside him too.

 ** _Present day._**

Neither Dean nor Ellen hear the door to his room being opened, as they're so engrossed in talking and laughing over a memory or two. In fact, they don't even notice Castiel until his surprised tone interrupts their speaking.

"Ellen?" His eyes widen a little witch confusion and surprise, as he lays eyes upon Dean's new visitor.

"Cas, hey!" She smiles.

Meanwhile, Dean looks between both Nurses – probably the most confused of them all. "Wait... You two _know_ eachother?!" He exclaims his question out loud, wondering if Cas had worked with her before.

"Yeah, Cas used to work on one of my paediatric wards.. He still comes and visits sometimes," Ellen pauses to look at her watch, "hey, you know what, I really gotta get back to work. It was great seeing you Dean, but I hope I don't see you around here anytime soon!" She jokes, almost having to refrain from ruffling his hair like she used to.

"Thanks for comin' up," he smiles back at her, and then they both wave – Ellen sending a nod to Cas, too – just before she leaves.

A few seconds after Castiel has taken Dean's temperature, the patient's curiosity gets the best of him. "You were a paediatric nurse?" Dean asks, studying Cas' facial expressions – maybe as a telltale to why he left.

"Yeah, I got offered a change though, and I accepted it... Damn good job I did, too," he smirks at the last part of his sentence, and Dean finds that all too familiar shade of pink returning towards his cheeks again.

"Do you still go back just to see Ellen then, or..." Holding his arm out for Cas to take his blood pressure, Dean begins to feel a little bad about poking around in his private life again. "I mean – uh, you don't have to tell me." He mumbles, trying to quickly save himself.

"Oh no, it's okay. I visit because there's a patient who I grew quite close to – and to talk to my friends, – her name's Claire." Castiel explains, with a small smile.

"That's cute," a slight moment of cringing happens inside of Dean's brain – did he really just describe Cas as _'cute'_...?

Clearly not phased by such word choice, Novak giggles slightly. "Thanks," he grins, remoting the blood pressure cuff off of Dean's arm.

As he packs away all of the equipment, a thought suddenly enters Castiel's mind. "Did Ellen look after you as a kid?" He asks, and Dean just nods in response.

"I'll have to find out if she had any embarrassing or cute kid stories about you then," he jokes, beginning to make his way to the door.

"Not if you know what's good for you!" Dean calls after him, and Cas laughs as he walks out of the room.

 ** _5th June, 1982._**

 ** _5.07p.m._**

Dean is lying back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. His thumb is in his mouth, and he's about to fall asleep... But, the sound of an opening door distracts him from closing his eyes. His tired vision soon perks back up to normal again, as he sees that all too familiar blonde hair. The homely smell of his Mom's perfume soon drifts towards him, and he jumps up to fast that it makes his head feel dizzy.

"MOMMY!" He yells so loudly that a few Nurses hear him outside, and chuckle happily to themselves.

"Hey, buddy! How're you feeling now?" Mary rushes to his side, her open arms meeting with his own as soon as they're close enough to hug.

"I'm only feeling a little bit sick now, did I do good?" Dean mumbles into her shoulder, and she laughs quietly.

"You've been so brave, as usual... My little Superman," Mary replies, kissing his forehead.

When Dean leans out of the hug, he still holds onto his Mom's hand. "Is Daddy here too?" He questions, not letting go of her whilst she sits down on his bed. Mary nods, and smiles.

"He's just outside, talking to Ellen." She explains, making circles with her thumb against Dean's little hand. The smile that lights up his face almost makes Mary forget how sick he was just there days ago, and how upset he was when she returned onto the ward, to see him again that next night.

A few moments later, and John walks into the room, with Ellen following just a few footsteps behind him. "Where's that brave kid you were telling me about?" John turns around to pretend to act confused towards Ellen, and Dean puts his hand over his mouth to hide a giggle.

Johh carries on walking until he gets to the end of Dean's bed, and then he pretends to have only just spotted him. "That's him, isn't it?" John scratches at his beard, and Dean starts to laugh.

"Daddy, it's just Dean!" He remarks inbetween laughter, and then John cracks up too. He walks around the side of the bed, and scoops Dean up into a hug.

He then holds his hand up for a high five, and his son reaches up to return it. John pulls up a chair to the bed, and then both parents watch as their son sits still to have all of his obs checked. "Dean's doing a lot better now, as I was just telling John – we took him off his oxygen early this morning, but his cough still needs monotoring, and his fever still hasn't broken." Ellen reels off to the anxious couple, who act like they're absolutely fine in front of their little soldier.

"I'm hot and toasty!" Dean does a little dance in his bed, and Mary laughs at his positive attitude.

She squeezes his hand, and then he snuggles it up towards his face. "I wanna nap now, don't go yet, okay?" He looks up at Mary, and then to John.

Both of them promise to stay with Dean for the next few hours, and then they watch as he cuddles up towards Mary's lap. It doesn't take him one minute to fall into a deep sleep. Everytime he starts to cough, Mary will flinch and fear that he'll wake up... But, he doesn't.

Unfortunately, when the clock strikes 9.30p.m. Mary has to leave to go home and sleep. John left at nine, because he had to quickly go back into the shop and finish off some paperwork for a customer. She kisses the top of Dean's head, and prays that he doesn't wake up anytime soon, nor cry for her as she walks out.

Thankfully, she makes it all the way towards the door on her tiptoes. Just as she's holding the door to make sure that it doesn't slam shut, she just about hears a tiny voice, whispering... _"Mommy?"_


	17. Chapter 17

**_2 weeks, and 3 days later._**

Dean ended up being discharged from the hospital on the Friday, and that's when Cas went to Meg about taking some holiday time – real subtle, I know. It came into agreement that he was to do one more week's work, and then he could take a whole week off for _'some personal time.'_

In that time, in order to start getting to know each other a lot better – and, hopefully see themselves as a lot more than just 'casual boyfriends' – Dean and Cas have; watched way too many rom-coms, and Dean pretended that he was only watching them for Cas (no, it was not his guilty pleasure taking over _at all_ ), watched two horror movies – both being Dean's idea, in attempt to make Castiel scared, and then be the one who he jumps into a hug with... But, this ended up being the total opposite way around. In fact, Dean was so scared at one point that he jumped so hard, and spilt his Pepsi all over Castiel's crotch. _Awkward._

They also went on a couple of walks through the woodlands on the outskirts of Dean's neighbourhood – this actually went alright, I mean they even held hands for the first time... But, then Dean got so flustered about making sure he didn't screw anything up, that he didn't see the nearby rabbit hole, and got his foot stuck in it. Once Cas had figured out that Dean was not hurt, he ended up laughing so much that he fell over too, and landed right into a puddle.

The pair have also baked (cakes _and_ cookies) – they had a flour fight, which took about half an hour to clean off of everything in the tiny kitchen, – they've cooked meals and breakfast for each other (almost burning the apartment down at one point, because they got distracted whilst watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S.) Cas stayed over for one night so far – Monday night – and, he took the sofa, but Dean ended up falling asleep on his shoulder halfway through another rom-com anyway.

But, now it's time for a _real_ date... A Dean Winchester kind of date. He's going to take Castiel out drinking. And, it's going to be awesome.

"Charlie! You gotta help me, I mean.. This jacket looks weird with these jeans! Is leather too much? What colour shirt to I wear?!" Dean gushes down the phone to his best friend, pacing back and forth his bedroom.

"Okay, okay.. Just take a breath. I'll be there in ten," she reassures him – Charlie, of all people, knows _just_ how stressful date dressing can be.

Dean thanks her profusely, and then hangs up the phone. He awaits her arrival by sitting on his bed – shirtless, and only wearing the dark blue pair of ripped jeans that he usually wears to go drinking – absentmindedly picking at his nails, out of nerves.

When the front door finally opens (Dean forgets that she still has a copy of his damn key), Dean jumps to his feet and immediately starts pacing again. "Okay, I'm here! I made it without breaking _too_ many traffic laws... Show me your options!" Charlie bursts dramatically into the bedroom, almost making Dean jump at how quickly she appeared.

He gestures to the pile of clothes on the floor by the wardrobe, and then his eyes advert to the other pile on the edge of his bed. "The ones on the floor are my maybes... I'll need to iron them, I guess," he scratches the back of his neck, and then sighs in frustration.

Charlie walks up to the maybe pile, and begins to sift through the different top wear pieces. After deciding that they're no good, she moves onto the pile that Dean chose as his more likeable options. About two minutes later, she picks out a plain, white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket with a couple of silver zips. "Wear your combat boots," she instructs him, holding the outfit towards him.

"How do you do that?!" Dean exhales heavily, a look of genuine shock in his eyes.

She laughs at his response, and then waits for him to put the clothes on. Sure enough, the outfit fits together perfectly. "Okay, so... What cologne?" Is the next question to leave his mouth, and just as Charlie opens her mouth to answer, there's a knock at the front door.

"Fuck, shit, fuck! He's freakin' fifteen minutes early! Who does that?!" Dean runs a hand through his hair exasperatedly, and then curses again because he realises that he had only just put gel in it.

"Quick, put this one on! I'll go stall him!" Charlie throws him a bottle of cologne (the one that most of his clothes smell of, because this one time it leaked in his duffle bag, which he had taken to the hospital the first day he met Cas... Not realising it still had some other stuff in it from a road trip away.)

Lightly spritzing himself with the fragranced liquid, Dean hurriedly reaches out to grab Charlie's hand, before she can run out of the room. "Oh no, you don't!" He's only just clicked as to what she was about to do.

"Why not?" The redhead pouts _'sadly'_ , rolling her eyes as her best friend begins to look more and more stressed out by the second.

"Cas can't know you were here... He'll think I'm incapable of making my own decisions, and he'll think that's just weird!" Dean ignores Charlie, as she quietly mumbles _'but, you are though...' "_ you're gonna have to climb out the window." he finishes, and Charlie almost chokes on air at his statement.

"I'm going to have to _what_ now?!" Her forest green orbs blink slowly, as she stares at him in the face.

There's another knock at the door, causing Dean's stomach to do a flip. "C'mon, it's barely one storey! I'll... I'll pay you!" He stammers, beginning to carefully lead her to the window.

Charlie sighs to herself, "bad day to wear a skirt, Char... You know, the things I do for you, Winchester." Her eyes narrow, as she heaves the window open.

"I know, I know.. And, you know that I love you for it!" A small grin flashes upon his face, and then Charlie props the window with the latch, so that it'll stay wide open for her great escape.

She engulfs Dean inside a quick hug, and then pulls away a few seconds later. "Good luck, call me as soon as you can with all of he details... And, I mean _all._ " her eyebrows do a funny little wiggle, and then she turns to the window.

"Thank you!" Dean calls out to her – already tearing his way down the stairs, and towards the place where he usually piles up his shoes (the area is a little tidier than usual though, because of Cas' recent presence inside his apartment.)

Lacing up his combat boots as quick as possible, the Winchester deeply inhales a shaky breath before he stands up. Walking towards the door, he pulls it open with as much confidence as his shaky hands can muster. Cas is standing tapping one foot against the front step, and he looks _amazing._ He's wearing an ACDC black, band shirt (with red writing), a darkened denim jacket, black skinny jeans, and a pair of black booted Converse.

"You look great," the pair speak in exact unison – slightly scaring the both of them. Nervous laughter escapes from each boyfriend's lips, and then Dean realises that he should probably step outside of his apartment now.

He already has his money and phone in his jeans pockets, so he locks the door, and then stuffs them in there too. "Shall we?" Cas smiles, holding out his hand for Dean to take.

Accepting the gesture, Dean's fingers lace with Castiel's own. Some of his nerves seem to just wash away, just at the touch of a hand. The pair head towards Cas' car, that's parked up on the kerb. The bar is about a twenty minute walk, but it's a cold evening – so, Dean is going to direct Cas there himself... Since, he hasn't actually told him where they're going yet.

As they both belt up, Castiel frowns for a moment or two. "Who's car was parked outside earlier? It looked like a pretty rushed parking job, and they sped off pretty quickly too," he laughs, and Dean freezes for a second.

"Oh, uh.. Probably just my neighbour's grandkid – crazy driver, pfft. Kids," he chuckles, hoping that Cas doesn't question the topic any further.

Thankfully, he doesn't ask anymore about the mystery vehicle, and they drive to the bar just listening to the music on the radio, with Dean giving a direction every now and then. When they arrive at the bar, Dean immediately looks at Cas' facial expression. He doesn't look rather surprised like he wondered if he might, but he doesn't look overly extatic anout Dean's date choice either.

"Don't worry, we don't have to get super drunk or anything," he reassures Castiel, who turns off his car engine and leans back in his seat.

"Let's just wait and see, huh?" His smirk throws the Winchester off course a little – so, was Cas actually _wanting_ to get drunk with him tonight, or...?

Catching up with his boyfriend, the sound of rock music and incessant chatter fills their ears. They enter the pub walking closely together, but not holding hands this time. Dean straight away heads for the bar itself, wanting to order some drinks and then find a table with Cas. He orders a beer, and Cas orders one too – not really a big drinker himself, he wasn't really sure what to get.. So, he just copies Dean.

They sit down at a free table, and take a sip of their alcoholic beverage. "You wanna get some food?" Dean's voice raises above the music, as Cas leans in towards him in order to hear a little better.

"Sure!" He shouts back, causing Dean to jump backwards a little. Cas laughs, and then quickly apologises.

"Burgers okay?" Dean suggests, standing up and digging around in his pockets for his money. Before Cas can argue about who's going to pay, his partner jogs off in the direction of the nearest bar maid.

Trying to calm himself by having another swig of the bitter liquid in the pint glass before him, he's then interrupted by a familiar voice. "Castiel?" Looking up at the sound of his name, an immediate feeling of regret for coming here forms inside every crevice of Cas' brain and body.

"Shaun." He dead pans, looking away from those all too familiar eyes of chestnut.

"Here to drown in your sorrows all alone, huh?" The man chuckles – a hint of evil even in his laughter.

Castiel scoffs, "actually, I'm here with my _boyfriend._ " he can't stop himself from blurting this out, needing to show the bastard next to him that actually, he is worthy of someone else.

"I'd just love to meet him... But, I'm going out for a smoke. So, maybe I'll meet this imaginary pal of yours in a whiie," the sound of his usual clip-clopping shoes makes Cas want to shiver from disgust. Just before he can come to terms with his mixed emotions right now, a much friendlier face returns to their table.

"Who's trying to chat you up?" Dean's tone comes across as joke-y, but inside he's teeming with jealously.

"N – no! It's not, I'm not – he wasn't.." Stumbling over every single word, he knows that Dean will now be curious as hell. _Crap. Nice one, Cas._

"Do you already know him?" Keeping his eyes focused on the shady figure in front of him, the Winchester takes a long drink from his beer.

Cas sighs heavily, resting his head in his hands. He might as well tell Dean... No point in keeping secrets from your boyfriend, and all. Looking up and away from his palms, he stares straight into those beautiful, green eyes before him.

"You know I said I hadn't dated for a long time...?" He begins, nervously chewing on his bottom lip out of habit.

Dean nods for him to go on. "Well, _he_ was the reason why I stopped."


	18. Chapter 18

_Dean nods for him to go on. "Well, **he** was the reason why I stopped."_

Cas looks up at Dean – not sure what to expect. Maybe for Dean to get mad that Cas never told him about the fact that his ex lives so close to him still. Maybe curiosity... But, instead he sees something that has never flared up inside those lime green eyes before – anger.

"What did he say?" Dean's jaw clenches a little tighter, as he demands an answer.

"It wasn't like that! He – he," beginning to make assumptions as to why Dean seems to be so on edge, Cas feels a light grip on his hand. He looks up to meet the eyes of the person opposite him, to see that they've softened slightly.

A sigh falls from Dean's mouth, "I wasn't insinuating anything like that, just.. What did he say to you?"

"Oh, right," a nervous chuckle interrupts his sentence, "well, he just asked who I was with, and then made a stupid joke about wanting to meet my imaginary boyfriend.. Before leaving for a smoke," when Castiel feels Dean's hand tear away from its previous resting place upon the wooden table, his heart skips a beat.

Practically tripping over his feet in the rush to get out of his seat, Cas yells after his boyfriend, "Dean, no!" But, he's already pushed open the door to the backyard smoking area.

Tripping over the step that leads to the outdoor area, Castiel jogs up to Dean, who is scanning his eyes around the area. "Which one is he... Is it him? He looks douchey," Cas places his hand around Dean's wrist, and diverts his pointing over towards three guys to the left.

Dean walks up to one of the men nearby Cas' ex. "Hey, bro. You gotta smoke?" The guy looks Dean up and down for a few moments, and smirks.

"Sure, need a light?" He pulls out a scruffy cardboard packet of cigarettes from his jeans pocket, and holds it up for Dean to choose one.

Nodding for the man to light up his cig, he then thanks him. Taking a few steps back to Castiel – but, still in view of the ex – Dean brings the cigarette up to his mouth. "What _are_ you doing?!" Cas whisper shouts, looking at his stupid boyfriend with such exasperation.

"Relax, Cas... It's a metaph –" it's quite obvious as to when Dean actually first inhaled some of the smoke from the cigarette, as he fails to finish his sentence due to the fact that he's coughing so violently.

Novak's eyes widen, but Dean holds up a hand to stop him from coming any closer. "I'm good," the Winchester scoffs, attempting to take another drag. Cas quickly swats the stick out of Dean's fingers, and then stamps on it.

"I don't know if you're trying to show off in front of my ex, or get yourself killed... Because, they're a little too similar to me!" Pulling Dean back inside the bar, Cas stands in front of him before Dean can even _think_ about pushing past him.

When Dean doesn't answer, Cas speaks again, "look, maybe we should just leave... I don't want this to get ruined by my past," he sighs.

Exhaling for a long time, Dean finally says something, "it's fine, c'mon.. Let's go get another drink," his half smile calms Castiel down a little, as they both head towards the bar.

The pair take a seat on a stool each, and Castiel lets Dean order for the both of them once again. When their beers are poured, they both take a long sip. Someone takes a seat to Dean's right, but he doesn't take any notice of whoever it is. Not until they introduce themselves, rather loudly above the current rock song that Dean was trying to enjoy.

"Hey, I'm Shaun." Dean glances to the stranger, and then realises just who it is.

Proceeding to ignore the male, he takes another drink from his glass. "His real name is Bartholemew," Cas whispers into Dean's ear – at a rather bad timing, as this new snippet of information causes him to physically choke on his drink.

"Sounds like a bad cough you got there, maybe you should come get that checked out... I'm a training Doctor, actually," Shaun continues to try and make conversation with the young man next to him, totally unbeknownst that he's taken.

"Oh, I'm so sorry... I must've forgotten to introduce myself to you! I'm Castiel's boyfriend!" He fully turns his body to face Shaun, and the look of shock on his face is one hundred percent worth observing.

"Y – _you're_ Cas' boyfriend?! No way," he scoffs, but then Cas moves from where he had previously been keeping out of sight from behind Dean – to further prove his doubts.

"Is there somethin' you wanna say, _pal?_ " Dean locks eye contact with the obnoxious newcomer, even whilst drinking some more of his alcoholic beverage.

"No, it's just, well... You are _way_ out of _his_ league, that's all." He laughs loudly, pretending to wipe a nonexistent tear from underneath his eye.

Dean shifts in his seat, "and, what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Dean," Cas places a hand on his boyfriend's shoulder, trying to pull him away from the situation – but, his grip is soon shaken off.

"I mean... You'd be better of with me, rather than a pathetic, lowlife pr –" before Shaun can finish whatever immature nickname he's about to give his own ex-boyfriend, Dean has gotten down from his stool and walked right up to him.

"You wanna finish that sentence?" The calmness in his tone is frightening, as he stands a few inches taller than Shaun – but, he's still in his face.

 _"Prick."_ the over pronunciation causes Dean to have to wipe his face, and then chuckle before what he's planning to do next.

His fists clench and unclench, and then his smirk faded as he swings his right hand directly into Shaun's nose. Clearly not expecting such actions, he stumbles backwards. The man behind the bar is already trying to get to them, but Cas grabs Dean and pulls him towards him – before this ends up in an eventual arrest. "It's alright, I got this!" He yells towards the bar tender, who looks like he might be able to cause more damage than both Dean and Shaun put together.

"Like hell you do!" An off guard Dean feels himself leave Castiel's grip, as Shaun yanks him back towards his own fist. He manages to return an identical punch to Dean's face, just before the bar tender sprints around in order to restrain him, and Cas does the same to Dean before he can re-launch himself back at his fighting partner.

"That wasn't even a fair fucking hit!" He tries to fight against Cas' grip, feeling too much adrenaline to realise that his nose is bleeding.

Whilst the bar tender is dealing with the pompous backchat from Shaun, Novak has to use all of his physical strength to lead Dean towards the exit. When they finally hit the fresh air outside, the Winchester tears himself out of the hold. "Let me back in there!" His voice is low and laced with anger – enough to make Castiel shiver... Or maybe it's just the cool, dusk air.

"I can't do that, sorry." He attempts at making his voice sound confident, as he watches Dean taking deep breaths to try and calm himself down.

A few seconds pass, whilst a few empty cans get violently kicked across the parking lot. "D – Dean?" Cas walks up close to him again.

 _"What?"_ He snaps, not breaking eye contact with the ground.

"You're bleeding a little," he holds out a tissue for him to take, which eventually he does. Shaun is clearly a weak hit though – since as soon as his face has been cleaned up, it reveals that the bleed has stopped.

Dean groans, holding the top of his head in frustration. He storms towards the back alley behind the bar, and the sound of clanging fills Castiel's ears. Quickly running after Dean before he breaks his foot on one of the trash cans or walls, he jumps in front of him just as he's about to take his rage out on yet another innocent piece of cement.

"Stop it! Let's just go home, and forget that I fucked up our first date, please?! We can walk, because I think I'm a bit drunk, so we can just get my car in the morni –"

"Cas, shut up."

"No! I'm trying to get you to stop breaking your frickin' knuckles, so actually you should be thanking me!" He continues to ramble, not realising Dean's eyes have settled on his moving lips.

"I _said_... Shut up," Dean repeats, only this time what he does legitimately works. Cas' eyes open wider in sync with Dean's eyes fluttering closed. Their lips have interlocked, and Castiel Novak was _not_ expecting that.

He finally comes to terms with the fact that he's being kissed, and settles his eyes closed too. Dean's hands move from where they were draped at his sides, and they grip onto Cas' denim jacket instead. Unsure of what to do with his own hands, Cas finds them slipping inside the back pockets of Dean's jeans.

Everything around them seems to fade away – as if the moment is a freeze frame – but, despite Cas' wishes to hold onto the moment for longer, Dean slowly steps backwards and opens his eyes. Mimicking his actions, their gazes meet. They stare for ten seconds, just taking in eachothers presence.

"That w – was a good way to shut me up," Castiel stammers, his breath hitching as he tries to act calm.

The smirk upon Dean's lips doesn't shift, as he runs his tongue along them. "I try my best," he shrugs, finding his gaze getting distracted to the same place as before.

He leans back in towards his utterly speechless boyfriend, and gently plants his lips back to where they belong.


	19. Chapter 19

**_/ to the guest review; 1) sorry it seems scattered to you :/ 2) plasters are adhesive bandages / band aids, sorry I forgot to change the name lmao oopS I'm a British uneducated bean /_**

 ** _the next morning._**

When Dean awakes the next morning, he's in bed alone – despite falling asleep next to Cas. Yes, he actually remembers stumbling home hand in hand, then making a stop at the corner shop for some cheap alcohol... Just talking and drinking until the early hours of the morning, when Cas finally dragged him upstairs to bed. Yeah, they slept together – in the most innocent sense of the phrase.

Castiel discovered that drunk Dean was clingy. Or maybe he was just like thay in general, but he could barely move due to two arms being wrapped around his torso for the whole of the time his boyfriend was asleep. He also snores... So, Cas barely caught a wink. But, damn was it worth it.

Practically rolling his way out of the bed, Dean untangles himself from the duvet. His vision is slowly growing accustomed to the sunlight that's teeming through the curtains, but his head doesn't quite feel the same way. He stumbles out of the door, and follows the sound of sizzling, that's coming from the kitchen. "What're you doing?" His voice comes out more as a painful groaning noise, rather than a human voice.

Cas almost drops his spatula in shock, and then dramatically spins around to face Dean. "I'm cooking you pancakes... Do you want pancakes?" He asks awkwardly, taking note of the slight shade of green that Dean's face seems to be turning.

"Right now, I need painkillers... Lots of painkillers," he mumbles in response, making his way towards the medicine cupboard in his kitchen. Pulling out a few pill bottles, he fills up a glass of water and proceeds to toss the right amount of tablets into his mouth, before taking a swig of the cool liquid.

After hopefully having treated his hangover, Dean heads back upstairs to prepare for a shower. Leaving Cas cooking by himself in the kitchen. He shrugs, and then goes to turn back to the oven, but a sudden noise distracts him – it's Dean's phone vibrating along the kitchen table. He must've left it there when they came home last night.

Without really thinking much of it, he reaches for the device, and clicks the correct button in order to accept the call. "Hello, this is Dean Winchester's phone," he greets wittily.

"Who is this?" Cas can't quite pinpoint the voice on the other end of the phone, so he quickly removes the phone away from his ear, and then takes a glance at the caller ID.

 ** _'Sammy'_** ... _shit._

 _"Hello?"_ Sam's voice snaps Cas out of his mini 'stare at the phone and hope it will disappear' plan, so he places the phone back towards his ear again.

"I – uh... I'm," The words fail to come out properly, but it seems that Sam's brain is definitely working properly.

"Nurse Novak? Is Dean in hospital again?" The concern in the voice of Dean's younger brother makes Cas feel a lot of regret about answering the call, but he's also now aware that Sam hasn't been told about the newfound relationship in his older brother's life.

Taking a shaky breath inwards – in a failed attempt to calm himself – Cas tries to speak again, "n – no, I'm not – who's Novak? I'm..."

"Cas why are you on my phone?!" A shrill scream leaves Cas' mouth, as he jumps about a foot in the air from fright. Dean's phone also takes off out of his boyfriend's hand, and the embarrassed perpetrator attempts at catching it.

Failing in his mission to save Dean's phone, it lands on the floor by his feet. With a roll of his eyes, Dean walks over to pick it up... His eyes widening as he looks at the screen. "Sammy, hi..." His voice trails off into the distance as he leaves the room, and Cas swallows hard.

Hoping that they won't get into their first argument already, he's soon distracted from the thought by the smell of burning... _Crap, the pancakes._

After burning the remaining pancake mixture that Cas had found hiding away in the cupboard, all he could find that was remotely edible (in his eyes) were some pop tarts. Taking a seat at the small kitchen table, he takes a bite into one. He can still hear Dean on the phone upstairs, but it sounds like he's talking to someone else now – his tone has changed.

The niggling worry at the back of his mind about Sam not accepting their relationship slowly starts to intensify, whilst Castiel continues to bite at his slightly stale breakfast. He washes his plate up once he's finished, and then the sound of Dean's footsteps upon the stairs finally fills his ears.

"Is everything okay?!" He blurts out before thinking through his greeting.

"Yeah, yeah... It's fine – I had eight missed calls from Charlie, so that's why I took so long," he explains – and as Cas actually pays attention the figure standing before him, he can see that all Dean is wearing are a pair of grey sweatpants.

"You – you told Sam?"

"Aboutus? Sure, he sends his congratulations... I'm gonna go have a shower, see you in a second!" He exclaims – so casually, that Novak feels rather awkward for having worried so badly.

He awaits patiently for Dean to come back downstairs, whilst sitting on his sofa. When he does, he's changed into a clean pair of sweatpants, and just a casual grey, zip-up hoodie. Sitting beside Cas, he leans back into the comfort of the seat. "You know, I haven't seen any embarrassingly cute photos of you as a kid yet..." Castiel trails off, looking over to register Dean's facial expression.

He shrugs in response, and looks away from the blue eyed gaze. "Why would you want to?" His eyebrow raises, and Cas simply chuckles.

"Because... It's a cute, cringey boyfriend-y thing to do. That's why," his reply cracks a smile upon Dean's face, and then he sits up.

"Fine, but you must promise never to let these photos leave your eyes... Okay?" He seems genuinely serious, which confuses Cas.

"That doesn't make sense, but.. alright," Dean jumps up from the sofa, leaving Castiel waiting once again. He wishes he had kissed Dean's cheek before he leapt upwards, or maybe planted a kiss upon his nose.

About five minutes of hearing some crashing and cursing from upstairs, the Winchester reappears inside the living room, holding a dusty looking cardboard box. Having to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from making a Nurse-brain comment (as Dean may describe it), Cas prepares himself for the cuteness that's about to surface.

Dean places the box onto the coffee table, and then opens the lid. Peering inside, Cas can see an array of old toys, a photo album, and some other nicknacks that represent the nostalgia of Dean's childhood. He watches as Dean pulls out a photo album, and then he holds it out for him to take. "Don't you wanna hold it for me?" He questions, a little weary of handling something that may be of precious value to the Winchester family.

"It's just a photo album, Cas," Dean snorts, sitting back in his seat.

Frowning slightly, Cas does the same. He gently opens up the album, to reveal the first page. It's titled 'John and Mary Winchester's Wedding Day.' in fancy golden calligraphy – at the top of the page, and then underneath are three photos of whom Cas assumes are Dean's parents. His Mom looks beautiful in her wedding gown, and his Father looks very dapper. The couple are smiling with genuine happiness in each photo, which warms Castiel's heart a little.

He smiles to himself, and then carefully turns the page. This double paged spread is titled 'Dean Winchester, 01.24.1979.' There's a collection of four pictures per page – the first one is of a small baby, inside an incubator. It has Dean's name underneath, and the date. The next is of Dean's Mom holding him, in a hospital room, and underneath it says 'Mary and Dean, 01.05.79.' There is also one of him and 'John', and then the rest are typical new parent type photos, of themselves and their newborn son.

The next set of photos are titled 'Dean, growing up.' The first page is full of more young baby photos, but Castiel's face softens at the first photo, on the second page – Dean was around nine months old when it was taken, and it's of himself and Mary. They're both laughing at something that nobody can remember, but whatever it was must've been pretty hilarious.

A few more pages go by – Dean's first birthday, his christening, his first pair of shoes – when Cas reaches a page in which he recognises one of the faces. The page is titled 'Dean's second birthday.' The first photo is of a little boy in a hospital bed, and it's surrounded by balloons. The Nurse next to him is cheering, and she's clearly made the boy laugh, because his pacifier has fallen out of his mouth. Underneath, the writing says 'Ellen and Dean, best friends on a tiring birthday!'

"I didn't know you've known Ellen for _that_ long," Cas breaks the silence that he hadn't noticed had been formed, and Dean chuckles dryly.

When Dean doesn't reply, Cas follows his gaze towards the last photo on the page – his Mom is holding him, and he's wearing some Superman pyjamas. He has his pacifier (he must've really adored Superman) in his mouth, but the cheekiest grin upon his face. The scrawled handwriting under the photo says 'My new nickname is the tickle monster!'

Wondering whether or not to turn another page due to the trip down memory lane seeming a little too upsetting for Dean, Cas hesitates. "Carry on... You haven't gotten to the embarrassing pictures of Sammy yet," he forces a laugh – in an attempt to try and disguise his shaky voice.

Cas smiles sympathetically – despite Dean absolutely despising it whenever who feels sorry for him – and, he reaches his hand down towards where Dean's is resting upon the sofa. Lacing their fingers together, at first he can sense Dean tense a little. But, instead of pulling away from Cas' touch, he moves a little bit closer.

Resting his head upon his boyfriend's shoulder, Dean lit's his spare hand across towards the photo album, that's resting on Cas' lap. Their other hands touch, and then they turn the page together. In fact, they spend the next half an hour laughing and smiling at all of the memories in the book.

Castiel's favourite pictures just had to be the adorable smile three year old Dean had just before getting on his new bike... And, then the humorous 'after' photo, of the superhero bandaids dotted over his arms and legs, with Mary looking mad in the background (she didn't want John to take a photo.) And, the one of fourteen year old Dean and Charlie, posing to the camera with their arms slung around each others shoulders, throwing up the peace signs – as if they thought they were cool.

The memories inside those thirty something pages held a lot of love. And, if it wasn't for Cas... Dean probably wouldn't have looked at that album for months to come. Just like he hadn't taken it out of that box for at least six months before that.


	20. Chapter 20

A few hours after Dean has shoved his memory box back into some dusty corner upstairs, the pair resort to watching TV together. As yet another mind numbing commercial flashes onto the screen – this one's about some new soap brand – Dean stretches, and then gets up from the sofa.

"Let's have lunch," he announces, making his way into the kitchen.

Cas reluctantly moves from his spot on the sofa, and follows Dean towards his fridge. "You have no food – well, nothing _edible_ anyway." He adds, before Dean can protest against this statement.

"How dare you insult my pop tarts," the Winchester folds his arms across his chest, and pouts at Castiel.

"We're going grocery shopping!" A grin spreads across his face, whereas Dean doesn't look quite as amused.

Meaning that Dean has to actually go upstairs and get dressed into some suitable clothes to wear in public, Cas simply slips on his sneakers and waits. Eventually (like it takes fifteen minutes to prepare to go to the store,) he emerges down the stairs, wearing jeans and a red flannel. Having never seen his boyfriend in the colour red, Castiel mentally compliments how well the colour looks on him.

"Cas..." Dean waves a hand in front of his face, as he stops beside his own footware.

"Mhm?" He murmurs, not realising how deep in his own little world he just was.

"You were kinda staring," a smirk tugs at the edge of Dean's mouth, as the other male in the room begins to turn a shade of pink.

"S – sorry," he chuckles nervously, following his boyfriend towards the front door.

Dean smiles to himself, opening the front door. He steps out onto the porch, and waits for Cas to join him. "I forgive you," he jokes, leaning forwards to place a small kiss upon his cheek.

Having not expected such a cute gesture, Novak almost forgets he's standing on a step, and practically launches himself off of the edge. Playing it cool as his boyfriend turns around to see what the noise is all about, he ends up tripping over his own untied shoe lace. _Smooth._

Trying his hardest not to laugh at Cas' clumsy misfortune, Dean wairs the car, and rhen the pair of them begin the short journey to the nearby store. As soon as they arrive, Castiel hurries off to fetch a shopping cart. Making sure that he's the one steering it, they both head inside.

"Just to clarify, I'm doing the choosing today." Novak announces, as Dean dodges a few kids that are running around.

"Cool, well, we need more pop tarts." Dean attempts to steer the cart into the direction of the sweet goods, but Cas firmly stops him.

"What you need is some fruit and vegetables!" He smiles, but the Winchester huffs – a frown appearing upon his brow.

They shortly end up in the aisle of fresh fruit and veg – much to Dean's dislike – and, Cas begins to pile in all sorts of food. After he's thrown in some apples, bananas and broccoli, Dean decides to add his own input. "Can I get some chips now?" He whines, tugging at the sleeve of Cas' jacket.

"Oh my god, stop being such a child!" He whisper shouts in response, trying to reach for some carrots – but, Dean tickles under his arm.

Having successfully made Cas giggle, he hurriedly takes control of the shopping cart. He manages to tear his way towards the nearest unhealthy food aisle – which happens to be where all of the jello mixtures are kept. He sees a little kid asking his Mommy for some strawberry mixture, and a small smile appears on his face.

"That wasn't funny," Castiel has finally caught up with him, and grabbed the cart back into his own grip.

Dean jokingly mimics his speech behind his back, before jumping in front of him. "Can we at least buy some more popcorn?" He asks, stepping in the way of wherever Cas tries to steer the shopping cart, until he gives Dean an answer.

"Fine! We will get the popcorn," he rolls his eyes melodramatically, finally beking able to push the cart past his pesty boyfriend.

They head towards the aisle where the snacks are kept, and if Cas wasn't concentrating so hard on Dean's... _Behind_ , shall we say, he would've almost crashed straight into him – as he's suddenly stopped right in the middle of the floor. "What're you do –"

"Actually, on second thoughts.. I don't want popcorn anymore," Dean clears his throat, before turning around and starting to walk in the opposite direction they were previously aiming for.

Cas quickly grabs his boyfriend's hand, forcing Dean's eyes to meet with his. "What's wrong?" He questions, as the uncomfortable body language belonging to the person opposite him relaxes a little.

"It's just... Uh, you see that woman?" He whispers, gesturing with his head towards the aisle they were just about to enter. There's a woman with long, black hair, casually browsing the shelves.

Cas frowns a little, but he nods in understanding. "She's a nurse who used to work on Ward Thirty Seven... I once got into, like, this argument with her. She's super, fuckin' homophobic as well," he finishes his explaination, and a feeling of upset and anger begins to grow inside the pit of Cas' stomach.

Realising that he's still got a tight grip on Dean's hand, he starts to pull him towards the aisle again. Ignoring the look of shock and confusion upon the Winchester's face, Castiel parks up their shopping cart just a few metres away from the woman whom Dean had been trying to avoid – purposely blocking her exit strategy. He waits for her to try and move, and then just as she realises that there's someone blocking her way, Cas goes through with his master plan.

Literally grabbing Dean's face, he crashes his lips straight into his totally dumbfounded boyfriend's. After the confusion has washed through him, Dean comes to terms with what the hell is actually happening – Cas is now holding both of his hands, and his eyes are closed. Removing their fingers from being so entwined, Dean's hands travel upwards, and then carefully cup Castiel's jawline instead.

The pair would've definitely carried on with this act of romance, if a certain female didn't clear her voice so loudly – and obnoxiously. Cas smiles against Dean's lips, before slowly moving his face away from his boyfriend's.

"Oh. I'm _so_ sorry! I didn't see you there, because I was kissing my _boyfriend_. Let me just move our super _gay_ shopping cart for you!" The sarcastic smile upon Castiel's face is award winning – as is the woman's reaction.

Her mouth is wide open in shock, and all she can do is try to stutter a response... But, she's simply too speechless. Eventually moving past them, she tuts and mutters something under her breath. As soon as she's out of their sight, Dean turns to Cas – a humorous and doting smile staring back at him.

Before Cas can ask for Dean's honest opinion on whether or not his actions were too over the top, the Winchester grabs Cas' hands back into his own, and steps forwards in order to carry on what had just been so rudely interrupted.


	21. Chapter 21

The two boyfriends have only been sitting at the table for about ten minutes, when Cas has a thought. "How come there's only one picture of you outside your Kindgergarten?" He wonders aloud – remembering his own mother pestering him to get photos taken for events like this all the time.

Dean shrugs, his mouthful full of the salad Cas made for the, both. "I dunno, my Mom always hated me going. It was my Dad who took me – and the photos," he explains, and Castiel nods once.

 ** _2nd June, 1982._**

 ** _7.52a.m._**

"Dean, that's enough." John tries to grab his son by the wrist, as he zooms past him in the hallway.

Continuing to tear his way through the hallway, little Dean is suddenly overwhelmed by a sudden coughing fit – he could never run far without this unfortunate event catching up with him. The sound of John's running footsteps fill his ears, and then he's picked up and carried back into the living room.

"You have to take your medicine, and then we're going to Kindergarten." He says sternly, shaking the blue inhaler in his right hand.

Folding his arms and putting on his best cross face, John's son firmly yells back, _"NO!"_

"Do you need a timeout?" The serious look on his Dad's face makes Dean feel a little less likely to shout again. He shakes his head, and then reluctantly complies to taking his inhaler.

Mary left town for a business trip on Wednesday night – she was hesitant, because Dean was only just getting over a cold, and he's been up and down since the weekend... But, John convinced her he would be fine, so she ended up going. For the whole of the night Dean cried for his Mommy, and then Thursday he played up big time. So, today was going to be Kindergarten day... Whether he liked it, or not.

Continuing to pack his son's backpack for the day, John then heads off to the kitchen for some Tylenol – he didn't want the staff calling him up early to pick Dean up. Yes, he's one of _those_ parents. "Dean, take your pacifier out of your mouth one sec," (yes, he caved in Wednesday night and got it out of the top drawer for him.)

Shaking his head, the little Winchester tries to make a run for it yet again. But, this time John was quicker. "You gotta take this, bud... It'll make you feel better, whilst you're playing with your friends!" He attempts to sound optimistic, and ignore the tears forming around his son's green orbs.

Finally, he drops the pacifier from his mouth, and takes the medicine from the syringe. Having already dressed him earlier, all John has to do now is persuade him to put his sneakers on. By choosing his 'Superman sneakers' – a.k.a his red Converse – this meant that now they just had to make it out to the car, with no tears... _Hopefully._

John zips up Dean's navy blue hoodie, and then carries him out to the car – trying to dodge the little feet that are annoyingly kicking him with every step he tries to take. He buckles his grumpy son inside the car seat, and then they're off. It's only a ten minute drive – if Dean was in a better mood and they weren't so late out of the door, they'd usually walk. The car pulls up outside the small brick building, and looking in his rear view mirror at Dean, he sees that his eyes are screwed shut.

"I know you're awake," John chuckles, taking his seatbelt off. He walks around to Dean's side of the car, and carefully lifts him out.

They make their way inside the building, and John heads over towards the correct classroom door – there's four different age groups, and Dean is in the preschool age room, also known as 'The Sunflower Class.' Giving a firm knock onto the door, one of the four class teachers opens it, with an optimistic smile.

"Dean! We haven't seen _you_ in a while," she beams, but he just buries his head into John's shoulder.

He steps inside, and then hands the woman Dean's backpack. "His inhaler is in there, and he had five mil of Tylenol this morning – just a cold, don't worry." He smiles, and then attempts at prying his rather strong son out of his arms.

Staying stuck to his Dad like glue, the smaller Winchester knows that soon the teacher will try and take him away. He doesn't really like Kindergarten – the kids annoy him, he misses his parents, and the teachers always tell him off. Sure enough, the feeling of his teacher's hands (carefully) pulling him away can soon be felt, and now it's John's turn to predict what happens next.

"I'll be back at half past three, okay, Dean? Love you, be good!" He kisses his son's head, and then manages to hand him to the worker, just before the waterworks come into full swing.

Just as he hurries out of the door and past a few parents, he can hear the sound of Dean's wails begin to fill the air. Hushing the upset child, the woman holding him sits down in a nearby chair. "Evie, would ya guess that he's had Tylenol... _Again?_ " She beckons her colleague over, who subtly rolls her eyes.

"Pass him over, Cait – I'll try get him to have some breakfast," it was only 8.15a.m, and the Kindergarten serve breakfast for their kids until nine. Cait hands her friend the boy, who then takes him over to the breakfast table.

 ** _2nd June, 1982._**

 ** _12.34p.m._**

It's been a fairly tough day for the teachers in Sunflower Class – Dean point blank refused any breakfast, and then continued to cry himself into a close-call asthma attack by nine a.m. (Try working that out whilst you're welcoming in other children... In front of their parents.)

At the moment, Cait and Evie are next door in their sleep room – where they're trying to persuade Dean to lie down for nap time. He stares up at them, his pacifier in his mouth, and his eyes looking extremely sleepy... But, he will not lie down. Trying to avoid making him sad again, Cait tries to sing a lullaby. "No singing, it's nap time... Only Mommy can sing at nap time," he explains with a serious tone – and the adults try their best not to laugh.

"Sorry," Cait apologises as sincerely as possible, and then offers him a hug instead.

Dean shakes his head, looking over at the beds opposite him – the little girl with shoulder length brunette hair is smiling cheekily at him, and her blonde haired friend can be heard giggling beside her. They were the only ones to offer him a place in their game so far today.

He waves at them, and then quickly stops when Evie turns to see who's disturbing their attempts at getting all eight of the children to sleep. "Maddie, Emmy... Go to sleep!" Evie uses a more stern tone on the troublesome two. They keep on laughing, but hide their heads under their covers.

Climbing out of his bed, wanting to go and play instead. When Cait simply picks him up and tucks him back in again, he retaliates by sitting up, folding his arms... And, sticking out his tongue. "I don't want nap time!" He firmly states, trying to look mad but being interrupted by a sneeze.

She sighs quietly, and places her back hand to his forehead. "Evie, can you go ask someone to pass me the thermometer?" She calls out to the girl behind her – who's currently trying to rock the only other two children that are currently awake in the room, to sleep.

She gets up from the carpeted floor, and goes to retrieve it. "Right, it's time to sleep now. No more being silly," Cait lays the stubborn boy down in his bed, and ignores his cries and shouts of disagreement from behind his pacifier.

As usual, he starts to get himself worked up, and then being in the lying down position causes him to start coughing. Quickly lifting him up and patting his back, she hears the door opening. Evie passes her the thermometer, and tries to help calm the stressed out child in Cait's arms. "I'm gonna get his inhaler again," she informs, and then hurriedly carries Dean into the main classroom.

After getting another member of staff to witness the treatment, she checks his temperature – sure enough, it's rising a little. "Get the main office to give his Dad a courtesy call, I'm gonna try to calm him down in the timeout room," Cait informs their room leader, before leaving the room.

She quietly shushes him, and rubs his back. Opening the door to the 'timeout room', she takes a seat on a beanbag. The small proximity around them has a soft floor, and is basically filled with soft toys and seats. If a child gets too mad to be in the room, or if they're sick, then they usually come in here (with an adult) to calm themselves down.

Slowly – but surely – Dean's sobs start to calm down, and then he's able to put his pacifier back into his mouth again. "Hey, what was all that about.. _Huh?_ " His teacher asks, whilst brushing some strands of hair out of his watery eyes.

"I w – want my Mommy," he sniffles, rubbing at his flushed face.

"She's at work, Honey," Cait cuddles him closer, but he wriggles away.

"I don't wanna nap!" He starts to wail again, but this time Cait decides to tell him that he doesn't have to take one if he doesn't want to.

She walks over to a nearby shelf that's nailed to the wall, and gets some tissues from the box. "That's better," she looks at Dean's now clean face, and then looks towards the door as a member of staff has entered to confirm that the courtesy call has been made.

Relocating to the pile of cushions in the corner, she sits Dean in the middle, and then places herself a few metres away. Leaving him alone to work out his little moment of anger and sadness, she watches him cuddle his teddy bear. His eyes slowly start to close, and then it's barely a minute until he's fast asleep. _Finally._


	22. Chapter 22

I was wondering maybe if I should make a oneshots book... I've also written a scene of Dean's childhood flashback that I might not put in here, but if you request it, I could put it in an 'extras' book?

would anyone want to request oneshots?

 ** _Present day._**

"I _will_ fight you," Dean warns, trying to arue with Cas over who's doing the washing up tonight.

Castiel chuckles, and then puts his cutlery into the sink. "Your threats of violence do not phase me, Winchester."

"Fight me then!" Dean holds his fists up into the boxing stance, and Cas holds his hands up in the formation of a karate chop.

Laughing dodges the weak attempt at a hit, Dean scoffs. "You can't go up against me – I mean, where were you when I was kicking your ex's ass?" An eyebrow of his raises, as he playfully nudges Castiel in the arm.

"I was right behind you... Silently cheering you on," he answers, reaching for the sponge.

"Cas, when I turned to look at your face.. You looked like you were gonna shit yourself," Dean snorts, and Cas goes a little red.

He huffs – blowing a few strands of black hair out of his eyes, – "did _not._ "

As Novak continues to try and clear up for his boyfriend, Dean stops him once again. He holds one of his hands in a fist, on top of his other hat – which is laid out palm up. Cas looks from his hands, to his eyes. _"... Really?"_ he half thinks that he's joking, but the Winchester looks way too serious.

Sighing quietly, Cas forms his hands into the same stance. They do the 'rock, paper, scissors,' part, and then Cas chooses rock, whilst Dean chooses scissors. "Damn it!" He throws his fist into the air out of frustration, whereas Castiel simply laughs.

"What can I say?" He shrugs, "you have a tell," the smirk upon his face only makes Dean more annoyed.

"How do I have a tell at rock, paper, scissors?!" The look of genuine confusion on his face only amuses Cas even more.

"Because..." He leans in towards Dean's face, and then places a quick kiss onto his lips. "You're adorable!" A grin lights up his own face, which makes the Winchester smile too.

Whilst the domestic partner washes up the dishes, Dean insists on drying up. The pair then retire to the couch – snacking on some chocolate that Dean had sneaked into their shopping cart earlier today. By the time it's nine pm, he's trying not to act tired... But, yawning and cuddling up to Cas is clearly proving otherwise.

Gently pushing Dean away from him, he hears a quiet whimpering sound. "Go to bed, dork." Cas laughs, still concentrating his eyes on the last few minutes of an episode of Friends.

"I'm not tired," he replies through a yawn – his head falling back onto Castiel's shoulder again.

Waiting a few minutes for the episode to end, Cas stands up from the sofa – whilst an unsuspecting Dean falls sideways. "Ow," he deadpans sarcastically, just lying there for a few moments.

Shaking his head, Novak heads upstairs in order to change into his bed clothes. He hears Dean's bare feet padding along the corridor as he brushes his teeth, so he speeds up in order for the Winchester to come and use the bathroom too. Around fifteen minutes later and they're both snuggled up in Dean's bed – his arms wrapped around Cas' torso, as he had discovered last night, is his favourite way to sleep.

Maybe ten – maybe twelve – minutes later, and the sound of soft snoring fills Castiel's ears. The light touch of Dean's breath tickles his bare back, but it's comforting. He closes his own eyes, and then soon he's dreaming too.

 ** _3.27a.m._**

Castiel groans quietly, trying to wriggle himself out of Dean's tight (but careful) grip. He rubs his eyes, and walks towards the bathroom along the hall. After peeing, he makes sure to wash his hands – _obviously._

But, being the clumsy person that he usually is – plus, the fact that he's half asleep – when he reaches for the soap dispenser, he accidentally knocks one of the bottles of cologne, that he bought to Dean's (but hasn't used yet), into the sink. "Aw, _shit!_ " Cas whisper-shouts, seeing that the lid has flown off and his rather expensive fragrance is now pouring all over his hands, and then down the drain.

Quickly grabbing the rapidly emptying bottle, he finds the lid, and screws it back on. After placing the bottle on a bathroom shelf instead this time, he shakes his hands dry, and then resorts to just wiping off the liquid onto his sweatpants – at least they'll smell extra nice now. Cas mumbles a few more cuss words to himself, before leaving the bathroom, and climbing back into bed with Dean.

As if by some weird instinct, the sleeping Winchester somehow leans his way back into Cas again, as soon as he's pulled the duvet back over his body. Those familiar arms find their way around Cas' torso, and then he slowly starts to fall into a deep sleep again... Until, Dean rolls away from him, and a muffled coughing noise wakes him back up.

Dean's eyes open, and he looks around the room in confusion. The tickle in his throat is getting worse, but he doesn't want to wake Castiel up. He grabs at different things that lay upon his bedside table – but, it seems as if his inhaler has somehow disappeared. A few seconds go by, and Cas can't lie there listening to this any longer.

Sitting up in the bed, his better adjusted eyes soon spot what Dean needs. Picking it up from his own bedside table, with a roll of his eyes, Cas turns around, and throws it. Unfortunately – at half past three in the morning, Dean Winchester's hand to eye coordination isn't that great. So, as the poor, confused Dean tries to reach out and catch it, he misses... And, somehow causes himself to fall off of the side of his bed.

"Dean! Why are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" Cas yells, jumping to the oopposite side of the mattress, to see his boyfriend now lying on the floor.

The sound of a sneeze is the only answer at first, until Dean tries to suck in enough air to speak back. "Why are you trying to give me an asthma attack?!" He retorts as loudly as possible, finally spotting where the inhaler landed, so that he can use it.

Castiel frowns for a second, but the realises the issue here. "Fuck, I – I spilt my cologne, it was an accident... I'll never wear it again around you, I had no idea you'd, like, be allergic to it!" He starts to ramble, before leaping out of the bed.

" _Shit!_ Now it's all over everything! Can you breathe okay? Dean, don't ignore me at this desperate time!" He runs towards Dean, but then quickly runs away again.

Now doubled over in laughter (with a slight hint of pain, and breathlessness), the Winchester leans against his wall for support. "Cas – stop – making me... Laugh," he wheezes, wiping a tear from his eye. "We'll clean everything tomorrow, I don't think I'm that allergic to it... I think it's the fact that it's like you've taken a bath in the fucking thing," he snorts.

"I – you'll, have to take the sofa... I'll wash everything –"

" – in the morning," Dean butts in, making sure that Cas doesn't go and do the laundry at almost four freakin' a.m.

Nodding sheepishly, Castiel watches his boyfriend walk around the bed, and towards the door. "I'm _so_ sorry," he calls out – and, if there was any light in the room, Dean would most likely be able to spot the deep shade of red that Cas' face is speedily turning.

"You can make it up to me tomorrow," unsure if Dean just winked at him, the smirk that follows almost answers the question for him. As he watches the sillohette of his still coughing boyfriend slowly fade away, Cas contemplates whether or not to kick himself.

Only he would temporalily endanger his own boyfriend's health, so early in the morning. Sighing deeply, he climbs back into the bed. He'll have to make it up to Dean at breakfast... Yes, he'll cook pancakes, and give him lots of kisses.

After doing the laundry, (and taking a long shower), _of course._


	23. Chapter 23

_When I first started the fic, I never really stated what month it was. So, I'm gonna say it was about February(?), so now after the time skip in this chapter, it'll be the start of July._

 ** _The next morning._**

After Cas has ruffled his wet hair with a towel, he gets dressed into some casual attire, and makes his way downstairs. He already started the laundry an hour ago – Dean was busy snoring on the sofa, looking rather adorable all snuggled up, in his pyjamas. This time however, as Castiel tiptoes his way past the living room, he can hear the low volume on the TV. He turns to look over at the sofa, to where Dean is bunched up in his duvet, sleepily staring at the screen.

"You're awake! Are you feeling better?" Cas exclaims – making Dean jump, as he hadn't even heard his boyfriend enter the room.

"Peachy... Wanna cuddle?" The morning voice causes Novak's breath to hitch in his throat, but he attempts at acting casual.

"Are you giving me permission to enter your blanket fort?" A giggle escapes his mouth – totally uncool.

Cas' laugh must be contagious, as Dean finds himself chuckling too. "Yes, I am... And, whilst I'm at it, I'm going to knight you Prince Dorkus." He smirks, noting how flushed his boyfriend's cheeks are appearing.

Making his way over to the sofa, Novak places himself underneath Dean's duvet. The pair of them spend the next few hours watching movies together, and when Dean realises that he only has two more full days left with Cas until he goes back to work... He snuggles into him just a little bit more sincerely.

 ** _Two weeks later._**

 ** _July 7th._**

Tapping his feet to the beat of the current song blearing through his headphones, Dean leans up against the wall behind him. His sunglasses hide his forrest eyes, the eyes that scan the hospital entrance – awaiting someone to finish work.

"Boo!" Cas jumps out in front of him, from the opposite side to where he had been staring towards in anticipation.

Yanking out his earbuds, Dean folds his arms – taking notice of the rather pleaded expression on Castiel's face, knowing that he successfully scared the Winchester. "That wasn't friendly," Dean huffs, keeping his arms folded whilst Cas grabs him into a hug.

He giggles, and then digs his fingers into Dean's ribcage – causing his arms to immediately unfold, as his body tries to dodge out of Cas' grip. "Stop being a dick!" Is all he can manage to get out in between laughter, but Novak quickly stops when he realises Dean's breathing is slowly growing more wheezy.

"Sorry," he bites his bottom lip – feeling guilty as the sound of Dean coughing soon fills his ears.

"It's not you – the pollen count fucks with my asthma," the poetic explanation that leaves Dean's lips causes Castiel to chuckle slightly, before linking their fingers together.

Quickly using his inhaler, and then shoving it back into his jeans pocket, Dean leans his head into Cas' shoulder. The pair of them make their way towards where Novak's car is parked for the day, and then they make the short journey back to Cas' apartment building.

As Castiel pulls up outside the complex, Dean clears his throat as if he's about to announce something. "You know I said that Sam and Jess are basically dying to double date with us...?" He begins, not making eye contact with the unsuspecting male beside him.

"As long as you don't take us all to a gay bar for the joke you said would be absolutely hilarious, I'm cool with it," Cas shrugs, turning the engine to his vehicle off.

Dean snorts at the memory, before continuing. "Well, Charlie kinda wants to be part of a triple date now... And, we have a day for it, as long as you're cool with it." He tells Castiel, who had been feeling a little shy about the situation, but now more people have been added to the equation he's even more worried of being judged by Dean's family and friends.

"The more the merrier, right?" With another shrug of his shoulders, Cas then proceeds to step out of his car, and open Dean's door for him.

He nods towards him as a thankful gesture, and then climbs out himself. The pair of them walk up to Castiel's front door, and Dean watches as his boyfriend's hands turn the key in the lock. "Are you sure that's alright? Oh, and Sam doesn't trust me to pick a venue that doesn't include booze or lots of men... Nor Charlie, 'cause she'd probably pick a strip club. So, it's up to you where we go." Not expecting to hear such in depth information about Charlie's date venues, Cas finds himself tripping over his own front step.

Thankfully – Dean's hand reaches out to grab his jacket just in time. "Are you okay?" Shutting the door behind them, Dean looks worryingly into the usually cheery blue eyes.

"I'm nervous – what if Sam hates me?" Blurting his thoughts out before he has a chance to think them over, Cas then kicks his shoes off, and retreats towards the couch.

"Sam doesn't hate anyone," a scoff leaves Dean's mouth, whilst he joins his boyfriend onto the couch.

"Alright, but... Can I pick a venue and stuff tomorrow?" He mumbles sleepily, repositioning himself so that he's the one leaning into Dean's shoulder now.

The Winchester winds his arm around Cas' torso, and pulls him a little closer. "Of course, we've got a couple weeks.. Please, don't stress about it." He whispers comfortingly, and Castiel tilts his head upwards in order to look at him.

"Thank you," his smile is soon growing wider, as Dean leans his own head down to meet Castiel's lips.

Feeling Castiel smiling into the kiss, he murmurs "you're welcome."

 _Sorry for the short, and boring filler! The next chapter will be way better, I hope. Also, sorry for not updating for a while... I was at Asylum16 last weekend, and I met j2!_


	24. Chapter 24

**_2 weeks later, early evening time..._**

"Cas! Get out here... This looks stupid, could ya.. I need your opinion... _Cas?!_ " Dean's voice echoes around his apartment, until it finally reaches Castiel's ears.

He jumps around the bathroom, in an attempt to yank his extra skinny jeans up his legs. "Well, I hope you don't want kids, Dean..." He murmurs quietly, being pulled away from his thoughts as his boyfriend yells his name yet another time.

"I'm coming!" He calls back, shrugging a black, leather jacket onto his arms.

Cas breaks into a light jog from the bathroom towards Dean's room, to where he finds his boyfriend having a major outfit crisis. He has a pair of black skinny jeans on, but is missing a shirt... Probably because half of his wardrobe is currently lying on his bed. "Which one? Do I go plaid, or just t-shirt?!" He throws up his hands in distress, as Cas' eyes scan over each upper wear choice that he has.

"Well, it's July, Dean.. Wear something light." He gestures to his own plain white tee, that's underneath his leather jacket.

"Yeah, well, I can't pull off the Danny Zuko look quite as well as you can." His arms fold across his chest, as he sits down on his bed in retreat.

Unsure on whether or not that's a compliment, Cas looks at his outfit in the mirror that Dean was previously stood in front of. "It's not a bad thing, dumbass." A chuckle sounds from a few metres away, and Novak finds himself heating up in the cheeks.

"T – thanks..?" His clammy hands flatten out his t-shirt, and then Cas turns to face his boyfriend – who is now pulling some clothing over his head.

It's a simple black button down shirt – but, with short sleeves. "Is this too much black?" His mouth forms a grimace, whereas Cas simply smiles.

"You can never have too much black... Now, try to relax.. Please. Before your exams, and all." He wanders over to place a kiss upon Dean's head, but the Winchester sighs loudly in response.

"Don't remind me," he mumbles, walking over to his dresser to slide s few bracelets onto his slightly tanned wrist.

Just as Cas is about to apologise (and maybe try for another kiss), there's an enthusiastic knock at Dean's front door. Gulping down the nerves, Dean makes his way back downstairs. Pulling the door open, it was pretty obvious who was going to be standing there. "Hey! We brought alcohol, for the after party!" Charlie's arms flight around Dean's neck, as she attack hugs him.

Emily laughs from behind them both, greeting Dean with a small wave. He lets them both into the apartment, and then places the alcohol safe in the kitchen. The girls are both dressed in jeans and nice blouses – Cas ended up choosing a nice bar just out of town to go and eat at, after searching on the Internet for a few hours over the past couple of weeks. So, they didn't have to dress overly posh.

Whilst the girlfriends make themselves at home on the couch, Dean takes this as his chance to slip on his boots. Cas comes down the stairs to greet their guests, and then does the same thing as his boyfriend. Whilst the pair of them are lacing their footwear, there's another knock at the door – more quieter this time.

"I'll get it!" Charlie jumps out of her seat, and bounds towards the door before anyone can say otherwise.

Once the door opens, the sight of Sam wearing a similar outfit to Dean appears, and then Jess who looks stunning in a floral dress. "Damn it, now I feel underdressed." The redhead who's greeting their next guests huffs, before hugging the couple standing on the doorstep.

"You look great, don't be silly!" Jess laughs, whilst Charlie steps aside to let them both in.

Sam scans the room for his brother, and of course goes over to hug him first. Then, his eyes meet the leather jacketed guy who's standing right beside him. "Hey, I'm Sam... Uh, you know that already, but.. Yeah." He trails off awkwardly, before sticking out his hand for Cas to shake.

"Cas... Tiel, uh – Cas," he corrects, taking Sam's hand in his and shaking it firmly.

They share a nervous smile, and then Cas drops his hand back to his side again. "So, shall we go then?" Sam turns to his brother, who's anxiously picking at his nails.

He nods in response, and then proceeds to let everyone leave the room before himself and Cas. "What if he doesn't like me?" Novak whispers, as Dean reaches out for his hand to hold.

"He likes you, shut up." Squeezing his boyfriend's hand, they both walk out towards Cas' car, so that they can begin on their triple date.

"I'll get us some drinks," Sam offers to everyone at the table, standing up from his seat. He places a kiss upon Jess' cheek before he leaves, and she smiles fondly at him in return.

The waitress has placed them at a table in the far corner, and everyone is dat as follows – Sam and Jess in the chairs, Charlie in a chair at the edge of the table, Cas and Dean on the sofa seats opposite his brother and his girlfriend, and then Emily on a chair diagonal to Dean.

Patiently awaiting the youngest Winchester to arrive with their drinks, Castiel nervously bounces his leg up and down from under the table. Dean is a little less nervous now – after all, he knows and loves every single person at this table... Whereas, his boyfriend only really knows him. Searching for Cas' hand beside him, the eldest Winchester gives it another reassuring squeeze.

"So, Cas... What's your favourite drinking game?" Charlie pipes up, eyeing him with a mischievous glimmer.

Clearly not expecting this question, he starts to stammer. "I – uh... Is – is this a thing for later then?" He questions, feeling a little worried about being drunk in front of Dean's family and friends.

"Charlie, stop pestering my boyfriend." Dean rolls his eyes, leaning over to kiss Cas' cheek.

Not expecting this either, the poor Novak has to place his hands over his cheeks to stop everyone seeing how tomato-like he's looking. Thankfully, Sam arrives with the drinks just in time to cool him down. Everybody thanks him, and then starts to leaf through their food menus.

By the time Dean looks up from the booklet, and has decided on exactly what he wants, Cas has already downed his lemonade. The waitress is soon by their table to take their orders, and then they're all left alone again. Taking good use of the big jug of water that the woman had left for them, as well as finishing off another three glasses of lemonade, Castiel continues to sip his drink – maybe to avoid small talk, or maybe to try and calm his nerves.

Charlie and Sam are currently in a conversation about some nerdy TV show, whilst Jess talks to Dean about what they've been doing at college. Emily adds into their conversation every now and then, talking about her work in theatre school. When the Winchester breaks away from their talk, he turns to his boyfriend.

"You good?" He questions, noting that Cas looks a little shaken up still.

But, when Novak attempts at opening his mouth to reply, a high pitched hiccup leaves it instead. "Oh, cra – p." He hiccups again, clasping a hand over his mouth.

"Dean this isn't funny! I always – do this when I get too ner – vous," Cas tries to whisper, but everytime he hiccups his voice raises an octave higher.

"You're right, totally not funny." Taking a sip of his own drink to stop himself from laughing, Dean glances at everyone else around the table – all still concentrated on their conversations.

A few seconds pass, as Castiel continues to sit in silence, his body jumping every now and then. When Sam and Jess leave the table to go and order some more drinks, Dean takes this as his opportunity to try and get rid of his boyfriend's pesty hiccups. He makes a gesture towards Charlie, who's already on the best friend psychic level with Dean by now... So, the pair of them smile at each other, and then prepare their plan.

"BOO!" They both shout in unison, smacking their hands on the table in front of Cas for extra effect, (the bar has music playing, so it's not as loud as it would be to draw major attention if they were in a fancy restaurant.)

Practically flying out of his seat, Cas has to grip onto the edge of the table to stop himself from falling. "What the hell, guys?!" He clutches at his t-shirt, in the position of where his heart would be underneath it.

Dean leans across the table to send Charlie a well earned high five, but freezes mid-air as the familiar high pitched sound returns. "Really?" He sits back down again, and turns to Castiel.

"It's not my – fault!" Cas protests, propping his chin up upon the table with his hand.

As Sam and Jess return to their seats, they look a little confused by the facial expressions that lay upon the others' faces. "Sammy, what was that thing you used to teach me whenever I got hiccups to do?" Dean frowns, trying to remember.

"Drink from the opposite side of the glass, but you'd look kinda weird doing it in public." He chuckles in response, earning a loud groan from Cas.

Managing to put two and two together after he sees his brother's boyfriend bounce in his seat, Sam smirks. "So, Cas... Would it be alright if I talked to you in private for a second?" The younger Winchester asks casually, but makes sure that when Castiel looks up at him, that he has a slightly menacing look on his face.

A few seconds of realisation settling in pass, and then Castiel tries to stall. "Uh... What? Um, can it wait?" He chuckles nervously, and then Sam frowns.

 _"No."_ He deadpans bluntly, causing Novak to gulp.

Just as he's about to stand up from his chair, Sam's face breads into a smile. "Sit back down, Cas. You're welcome," he turns to look smugly at Dean, who's currently looking just as confused as everyone else on the table.

" _OH!_ I get it, you got rid of his hiccups! Cas is scared of Sam, Cas is scared of – _OW!_ " Charlie breaks the temporary silence, that is until Emily manages to kick her from the other side of the table – causing her to fold her arms, and pout grumpily at her girlfriend.

The people sat together all start to laugh, whilst Novak feels his face heating up in embarrassment. "Uh, thanks, Sam... I guess," he scratches at the back of his neck, making a quick session of eye contact with him, before looking back down at the table again.

"You're welcome," Sam grins, loosely draping his arm around Jess as he leans back in his chair.

Dean sends him a glare, and rests his hand on top of Cas', to stop them from shaking underneath the table. Luckily, the waitress is now coming into view carrying their food – hopefully meaning that there won't be anymore awkward happenings for a little while, whilst everyone digs in to their meals.


	25. Chapter 25

When the trio of dates stumble out of the bar, it's almost ten pm already. Since Sam and Jess aren't actually old enough to drink yet (well... legally, anyway) the youngest Winchester is the designated driver for Charlie and Em, whilst Cas will be driving Dean. A few moments ago Novak had just suggested that they all head over to his place – it has a spare room for Sam and Jess, and a perfectly good sofa bed which Charlie and Em insisted they take, as opposed to Cas' room. So, they're just heading back to Dean's for the alcohol, and then they'll all pile into Castiel's apartment for the remainder of the night.

The good news is, that Cas no longer believes Sam Winchester hates him. They ended up getting into a fairly lengthy conversation about Sam being a pre-law student, and then this wound up into how Castiel found medical school. Of course, Dean tuned out at most of this professional talk, and proceeded to fuel up a much needed conversation with Charlie and Emily – about video games, instead.

Cas unlocks the door to his apartment complex, and Charlie is the first one to exclaim about the neatness of everything. "Dean, you're such polar opposites to your boyfriend!" She slurs just a little, giggling as Castiel seems to blush a little at her comments.

Telling everyone to make themselves at home, Sam and Jess wander through to the living room. Charlie and Em race them to the couch, and Jess laughs as she resorts to sitting comfortably in Sam's arms, on one of the two arm chairs that are beside each end of the couch. Cas and Dean make their own way to the kitchen – in order to prepare the alcohol. Charlie had already bought red cups, so naturally she's going to suggest some good old, traditional drinking games to match.

"Is this even a good idea? What am I doing? Why am I doing this?" Cas mumbles to himself more than anyone else, as he gathers up the beverages, and carries them into the lounge.

"Because you're the best boyfriend, _ever!_ " Dean suddenly wraps his arm's around Castiel's waist, clumsily pressing kisses to his neck... He's a little drunk right now.

Being taken by surprise, Novak has a minor heart attack as Dean almost causes him to drop the glass bottles in the bag that he's holding... Well, _trying_ to hold. "Dean!" He gasps, ducking out of the fairly strong grip his boyfriend currently has ahold on him.

 _"Cas!"_ comes a mocking voice from behind, just as the pair enter the living room a few metres apart.

The couples in the living room are already chatting and laughing away, and then suddenly all eyes are on the two males who have just walked in. "We're playing never have I ever!" Emily grins excitedly – sharing similar expressions with her girlfriend.

"Great!" Castiel sounds about as enthusiastic as a pet rock, whilst he sets down the bottles in the middle of the room.

They all sit in a circle, in an order as follows – Sam, Jess, Emily, Charlie, Cas and then Dean. "I'm going first, because that's my cheap vodka." Charlie announces, opening the pack of red cups.

She pours out the right amount for a shot, and then looks deep in theight for a few moments. "Never have I ever... Been in hospital – as a patient!" She quickly adds, smirking over towards Dean.

"As long as we don't have to take one shot per stay," he shrugs, reaching out for a cup also. Pouring the shot into the container, he takes it down in one swift swig.

Sam, Jess, and Cas also drink – a little to Charlie's surprise. Castiel is next, and he's not really sure what to say. In fact, the only time he's ever seen this game played is on the TV. "Don't strain yourself, pal." Sam jokes – earning yet another glare from his older brother.

Cas gulps quietly, and then clears his throat before taking his turn. "Never have I ever... Played this game before," he looks around the room, feeling a little awkward to witness _every_ single person – minus himself – downs their shot.

Now that it's Dean's turn, he doesn't waste a single second in announcing it. "Never have I ever, dated a red head," he smiles smugly – taking great humorus pleasure in getting his revenge on Charlie... And, also Em has to drink too.

Now... You wouldn't think it, but this game can actually last for an hour and a quarter. To which point almost each couple are extremely tipsy... To say the least. Dean keeps trying to lean his head on Cas' shoulder – but, the nervous boyfriend is still a little wary around Sam. Jess is currently a giggling mess, whilst Charlie and Em can't really keep their hands to themselves.

Choosing to finish off the last bottle that Charlie had bought – as well as finding a few cans of beer inside Castiel's kitchen – for the next hour and a half they all simply drink and dance to music. "Castiel, you have my blessing!" Sam slurs, quite literally falling forwards and into Novak's arms.

"Get off my boyfriend, you slut!" Dean shouts from across the room, where he was slow dancing with Charlie... To a Led Zepplin song.

"You get off my boyfriend!" Sam yells back, seeming so genuinely serious.

Cas glances over at his couch, to where Jess is snuggled up in the corner fast asleep. He then looks over at Dean and Charlie, who are dangerously close to stumbling and breaking something around them. Emily is also passed out on an armchair... So, Castiel decides that it's time for everyone to retire. He switches off the music – earning a disappointed chorus of _'aww!'s_ , and then folds his arms.

"Time to get to bed," he says sternly – ignoring the wiggle of Dean's eyebrows, and Charlie's enthusiastic _'hell yeah it is!'_

"You don't even like boys," Dean snorts, pushing her shoulder playfully... But, underestimating his strength as she goes flying towards the arm chair beside her, causing Emily to jump up in confusion.

"PLEASE, DON'T HURT ME, I'M ONLY AN INNOCENT CHILD!" The girl squeals so loudly that Cas wonders if he may now have a burst eardrum.

Charlie herself simply falls to the floor, clutching her stomach with laughter. "Right, _you.._ head upstairs and show Sam to the guest room." Cas points at Dean, "I'm going to help the girls open up the sofa bed."

The two siblings both carefully help Jess to her feet – an interesting task for two drunk men, who would be able to complete it in two seconds flat whilst sober – and after five minutes of tripping over each other's feet and arguing about which side they should stand on (by this time, they'd already woken Jess up), they eventually manage to make their way towards the hallway, leading out of the living room.

"Guys, I'm way less drunk than you... Stop trying to carry me before we get injured!" Is the last thing that Cas hears, before the trio dissapear somewhere down the hall.

Novak sets up the bed inside the couch for Charlie and Em, bringing them all of the right bedding. He manages to escape their hugs of thanks about twenty minutes later than he had originally anticipated, and then hurry down the hallway to his own bedroom. Thankfully – the only person inside is Dean, who's snuggled up inside the duvet.

"Cas! Come and join me in my lair," Dean _giggles_ – and a gush of pink finds its way up to Castiel's cheeks.

He slips into the ensuite to change – trying not to laugh as Dean shouts at him, wondering where he's gone. When he climbs into bed in just a pair of sweatpants, it's pretty much a milisecond until he feels the warmth of Dean's arms making their way around his chest. The Winchester nuzzles his head into the crook of Cas' neck, and closes his eyes.

"Goodnight, Cas." A sleepy voice murmurs – although, the drunken slurring kind of blends e sentence all into one word.

"Goodnight, Dean." A happy sigh leaves his lips. The feeling of Dean's warm breath against his neck makes him feel relaxed... No matter how strong the smell of vodka may be.

Dean ends up falling asleep way before Cas. The soft snoring fills his ears, as he places a small kiss upon his boyfriend's cheek. "Love you." He mumbles quietly.

 ** _The next morning._**

It's around the hours of ten am when Cas stirs in his sleep, feeling an absence in the bed beside him. He groans, sitting up in a disoriented state. After stretching as far as his arms can reach, his eyes start to adjust to the room that's barely teeming with any sunlight. He can hear someone downstairs – two people... Three? They sound like they're conversing, but they're female voices.

He glances around the room, his usual worrying about Dean starting to get the best of him. Thankfully, a small cough alerts him to the position of his boyfriend... He's lying at the opposite end of the bed, with his head at the bottom instead. "What the...?" Leaving a most likely extreme hungover-to-be Dean Winchester to wake up by himself, Cas decides to have a quick shower.

Silently thanking himself for not drinking as much as everyone else the night before, he gets dressed, and then makes his way downstairs. Still feeling the need for a painkiller – or two – for his minor headache, he walks into the kitchen first. "Where's Sam?" Is the first question he asks, when he finds Jess chatting to Charlie and Em, in the living room.

The girlfriends are both still tucked up in bed, looking a little worse for ware... Whilst, Jess is sat cross-legged at the end of it, wearing a pair of sunglasses. "He's –" Jess' mouth opens and she begins to explain, but the sound of retching coming from somewhere down the hallway abruptly interrupts her.

"Being the lightweight that he is," she smiles sweetly, followed by a roll of her eyes.

Cas grimaces at the thought of having to go into his second bathroom a while later, but pushes it to the back of his mind when he hears a new set of footsteps entering the room behind him.

"I hope you don't mind, but I raided your medicine cupboard..." the voice sounds almost as scratchy as sandpaper, and Cas turns around to see a shirtless Dean, with dripping wet hair.

"Hmm, if I was straight.." Charlie begins to consider, until her girlfriend smacks her upside the head.

Dramatically collapsing onto the pillow behind her, Dean chuckles to himself. He walks over to where Cas is trying not to blush as furiously as he imagines he is, and the Winchester places his chin on top of his boyfriend's head. "Hi."

"Hi," Cas manages to talk without stammering – which is an achievement.

The aroma of mint gum, and then the familiar addition of Dean's cologne fills the air. Castiel smiles fondly, and turns his head to kiss Dean on the lips – completely forgetting that they're with company, until three in sync _'aww!s'_ fill the room. Jumping back from Dean in slight embarrassment, the still half-asleep second addition to their kiss stumbles backwards, almost falling to the floor.

"Ha, you fell for him!" Charlie snorts, quickly dodgin another hit from her fed up girlfriend.

The room fills with laughter, and Cas whispers a small apology to Dean. Of course, he accepts it straight away, and then leans in for another hug. "Does anyone want pancakes?" Castiel remarks, frowning when he hears a groan appear from the doorway behind him.

He spins around on his heels, to see the back of Sam's head – as he runs back in the direction of the bathroom. "Have you got bacon?" Dean shouts loud enough for Sam to hear, with slight regret though, as a sharp pain his head flashes throughout it.

"Fuck you!" A weak voice calls back, causing Dean to laugh loudly.

The couple make their way to the kitchen, where Cas will cook everyone (minus Sam) some breakfast – with Dean cuddling him from behind, pretty much the whole damn time.


	26. Chapter 26

_**Two weeks into Dean's exams, on a Thursday evening.**_

Dean taps his foot impatiently, as he leans against the familiar brick wall beside the hospital entrance. He takes the last sip of his orange juice, hoping to get rid of the sore throat that has been bothering him for a few days now – it's probably just the hot weather.

Finally, Cas jogs his way over towards him. "Hey!" He places a kiss upon Dean's cheek, in sync with his fingers entwining with his boyfriend's.

They walk to the car in silence, but Castiel doesn't push a conversation – he knows how exhausted Dean must be. "Was the chem exam okay?" Cas questions, as he starts up the engine.

"Uh... I hope so," Dean shrugs it off, leaning his head against the window.

"You've literally been studying for the past couple of months, not to mention cramming extra revision into the early hours of the morning for the past couple of weeks... I bet you did great," Castiel frowns at such a half-hearted reply.

Sighing, the Winchester lets his eyes close. "I'm too tired to talk about it," he mumbles.

So, letting Dean rest the whole way back to his apartment, Cas plans to let him relax for the evening. As they pull up outside, Castiel notices Dean jerk awake – even though he acts like he wasn't sleeping. "Let's watch TV whilst we eat dinner," a sleepy voice mutters, and Cas nods in agreement.

They both change into casual clothes once they're inside, and then Dean heads for the kitchen. "I'll make us food!" Castiel calls out from the living room, where he's currently flicking through countless TV channels, trying to find something half decent for the pair to watch.

"No, it's fine.. You've been at work for –" at first Cas wonders why Dean has paused, but then he hears him start to cough, before continuing his sentence. "– hours, just let me cook!"

Cas immediately gets up from the couch, to go and help Dean. "Go sit down, I'm cooking." He states firmly, but then he frowns as when the Winchester attempts at replying, but finds that the incessant tickle in his throat clearly has some other ideas.

"You're not getting si –" before he can even say _'the s word'_ , Dean intervenes with a quickly thought up excuse.

"It's just allergies," he waves a hand in front of Cas, as he tries to step closer.

Not really buying it, Castiel sighs. "But, I bought you those allergy pills a couple of weeks back – you did take one today, didn't you?" The look of worry upon his face causes Dean to feel bad. He hates it when anyone worries about him, especially his own boyfriend.

"Uh, maybe I forgot?" Scratching the back of his neck, he makes sure to avoid eye contact with Cas... _It's still really hard to forget that he's a nurse._

"Look – we're both tired as hell. Let _me_ cook, and then we can get to sleep." Castiel finalises, and Dean decides not to try and argue this time.

After they both have a simple dinner of soup and buttered bread, the pair head straight off to get ready for bed. Snuggling into Cas chest, Dean wishes that they could just spend the day cuddling together tomorrow. He doesn't have another exam until next Wednesday, and then he only has two left of the whole lot. Then, he can finally stop consuming way too much coffee for his own good, and actually get a good night of sleep without feeling anxious, or doing some last minute studying.

Cas had to leave to go to his apartment and get ready for work at five am, so he placed a kiss upon Dean's forehead, and left the room on his tip-toes. He wished that he could just stay and relax with Dean... He was still suspicious about his whole _'allergies'_ excuse from yesterday evening. Making a mental note to check up on him via a phone call on his lunch break, he then quickly headed off to get ready for work.

When Dean finally wakes up from his long slumber, he has no idea what time it is. Trying to roll over and squint at his alarm clock for some reason causes aches around his whole body, and the sunlight that's peeping in makes his head feel heavy. He tries to inhale some air through his nose, but instead he is hit with congestion... _Oh no._

"No, no, _no._ " he groans, "not this week," his voice is barely even audible, and just the slightest bit of speech reacts with the tickle in his throat.

Clumsily feeling around on his dresser for his inhaler, Dean makes use of it, before preparing to sit up. His blurred vision spots a small piece of paper sitting by his alarm clock, so he reaches out for it. It's a note, from Cas;

 ** _'Have a good day. relax lots... Call me at 12, please. I hope you're feeling okay :)x'_**

The Winchester manages to crack a smile, before doubling over with another coughing fit that pains his throat greatly. Groaning loudly, he forces himself out of bed in order to go and take a shower.

The rest of the day passes by extremely slowly. All Dean wants is to cuddle up to Cas on the couch, and fall asleep to his touch. In fact, a few times he drifts off to sleep, and then wakes up calling his boyfriend's name. When the time to actually go and meet Castiel outside the hospital arrives, Dean has already taken two different cold medicines that he managed to salvage out from the very back of his medicine cabinet in the bathroom, and then his medical drawer and cupboard, in the kitchen.

He wipes at his watery eyes, and puts on his sunglasses in order to disguise them. Shrugging on his denim jacket, he then heads out of the door. Hopefully he can act as healthy as possible, or he knows the fussing that's to come... And, he's not exactly one to love being doted on.

It's around quarter past six when he leaves the house, and he shoves his hands deep into his denim jacket pockets, thrning the volume of his Walkman up as loud as he can – without hurting his head too much. His sunglasses shade his eyes from the beating heat that somehow can't keep him warm, as the soles of his combat books thump along the pavement.

When the dull, grey buildings finally come into view from behind his shades, the Winchester has already used his inhaler... Twice. Maybe walking to meet his boyfriend wasn't such a good idea afterall. Close to being exhausted, Dean leans against the brick wall that's adjacent to the hospital entrance that Castiel should be walking out of in... _About two minutes ago._

Taking his sunglasses off in order to rub his eyes, Dean squints from the sun to look out for any sign of Novak. He's missed him all day, and is getting fairly close to wanting to collapse into his arms. Not that he's going to admit that to Cas though, because that would make him look weak.

Further time passes, and the dull ache in Dean's skull grows worse from the slowly lowering sun. When he checks his phone to reveal that it's almost eight pm, the decision to enter the hospital becomes final. Although he despises the very building he's now walking inside, the Winchester can't wait any longer for Castiel to meet up with him.

The eery echo of his shoes hitting the linen floor fills his ears – his music playlist had ended about fifteen minutes ago, but his headphones still stay plugged in – as he tries to work out why Cas could be so late. For obvious reasons, Dean can't exactly stroll up to Ward 37 and ask where his boyfriend is... But, then it clicks. He remembers the time when Ellen came to visit him, and how she mentioned that Cas sometimes still visits the paediatrics ward that he used to work on, before moving.

Heading for the nearest elevator, Dean shoves the call button with his knuckle, and taps his foot whilst he awaits for the doors to let him inside. When he nears the brightly painted entrance to the ward, a feeling of sickly nostalgia overwhelms him. "You better be in here," his voice comes out a lot more croaky than anticipated – then again, he hasn't had anyone to speak to all day.

Taking a shaky breath inwards, he pushes the double doors wide open. Trying to ignore the sound of beeping machines and crying infants, he strides straight up to the reception desk. Being greeted by a half-asleep looking black haired woman, he clears his throat in order to receive her full attention. "Visiting hours are over... _sorry,_ " the gum in her mouth moves with her jaw as she speaks.

"Is Nurse Novak here?" Dean ignores her blunt statement, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot.

The woman blinks twice, and then frowns. "Sir, are you sick? Because we can't let you in here... Are you close family?" As if Dean's question to her was non-existent, she simply continues to loosely follow questioning protocol.

"No, I'm not sick! Is Nurse Novak in here, or not?" One of his hands rests firmly on the desk in front of him, as he stares the lady down. He doesn't have time for any stalling, all he literally wants is to go home and cuddle with Cas on the couch.

She squints hard at him, and then pops her gum. "You sound sick to me, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The lady forces a sickly sweet smile, and Dean prepares himself for an argument – quickly noting that he's on a children's ward, so as not to swear.

" _Lady,_ I swear to God – I don't have time for this right now. All I need to know is if a nurse came in here ear –" being temporarily interrupted by a sneeze, he immediately carries on, " – lier, or not?!" Dean finishes, sighing in frustration.

"I knew you were sick," the Winchester's mouth opens in anticipation of snapping something incredibly angered at the receptionist, but the familiar face of a blonde woman suddenly comes into view – stopping him from doing so.

She walks up to the desk. "It's fine, you can end your shift now..." She turns to face Dean – that recognisable smile of sympathy plastered upon her softened, but stern face. "I'll just go get him for you," she informs – leaving just as quickly as she came.

Leaving the sniffling Winchester standing there dumbfounded and wondering whether or not Ellen might be psychic, he soon hears the joyful sound of his boyfriend's laughter entering into earshot. "Thanks, Ellen... Tell Claire I'll beat her at snakes and ladders next time!" Cas chuckles, giving Ellen a small hug.

Turning to face Dean, his smile soon fades to a look of worry and concern. "Dean? Oh – shit, I'm so sorry I should've called, or – or, told you I was going to be late! Are you alright?" He speaks so fast and stuttery that Dean's brain can't process it, and when he tries to answer Cas he just sneezes instead.

Rubbing at his red tinted nose, Dean looks up at Castiel with sleepy eyes. "Can we go home?" He practically pleads, already walking towards the exit.

Breaking into a sprint to catch up with him, Cas grabs Dean's hand before he can push the doors open. "You should've called to say you weren't feeling well," his face saddens as Dean pulls away from his grip, and continues to walk ahead.

"I'm fine," watching the Winchester's pale hands dive back into his pockets, Novak sighs.

"No.. you're not." His stern statement is further backed up by Dean breaking into a painful sounding coughing fit, which is accompanied by a sneeze just ten seconds later. "Did you happen to forget I'm a nurse? _Your_ nurse, to be precise. I'd know that sick voice anywhere," managing to catch up with him after having slowed down, Cas places a gentle hand upon Dean's shoulder.

The guilty look inside those green eyes that are trying their hardest to avoid the concerned orbs of blue tells exactly the same story that Cas is trying to accuse. They end up walking the rest of the way in silence – well, speech wise, anyway – until they both stop outside Castiel's vehicle.

Climbing inside the comforting warmth that usually smells of vanilla air freshener – being unable to breathe through his nose right now, means that Dean can't quite relive his usual safe senses – the Winchester leans against the car window. Cas drives for a good ten minutes until the silence is broken, when Dean opens his eyes after accidentally drifting off to sleep for a third time.

"Can we watch a movie?" Of course Castiel can't say no to sick Dean. Well, he can barely say no to somewhat healthy Dean – especially when he tries to tickle Cas as a weapon, or kiss him until he gives in.

Nodding as his reply, Cas' eyes meet the familiar block that Dean lives on. He parks up outside his apartment, and then tries to run around to Dean's side of the car, in order to help him out. But, Dean being the stubborn idiot that he is, has already jumped out way too fast for his own good.

Holding out his arms to steady the swaying Winchester, Cas folds his arms after Dean pulls away and regains his balance by using the car as a back rest instead. "Alright, alright... I admit it, I may have caught a cold from staying up too late and studying and stressing over my finals – there, now stop giving me that 'I told you so, I knew you weren't fine' look!" Dean blurts out, literally leaning forwards and falling into Castiel's chest.

Having not expected his usually so argumentative boyfriend to give in so easily, Cas is even more confused when Dean wraps his arms around his torso. "Hug me back then," comes a muffled sound against Cas' uniform, causing him to giggle a little.

Squeezing Dean with as much affection as he can give him without hurting the guy, Cas kisses the top of his head. "Let's go watch that movie," he whispers, just before Dean pulls out of the hug... So that he doesn't sneeze all over his boyfriend – because, that would seriously kill the moment of cuteness.

"Bless you," Cas comments, waiting for Dean to walk towards the apartment first, before he follows behind.

Hearing Dean mumble something along the lines of a 'thank you,' (his voice is too nasally and raspy to understand), he traipses along the pathway in pursuit of Dean's combat boots. As soon as they head inside, they both hurry upstairs to get changed into casual clothes.

Castiel comes downstairs before Dean is ready, so he starts to sift through his movie collection. His grey sweatpants, and ACDC t-shirt are a good combination for the fairly warm July day... Making his eyebrows raise as he spots Dean's outfit choice, once he arrives inside the living room.

He has sweater paws from his navy blue hoody, and a pair of matching – they could even be Cas' – sweatpants. Plonking his body onto the sofa, Dean's eyes flutter closed within seconds. "Cas?" He whines, whilst listening to the sound of the DVD player start to whir.

 _"Dean?"_ As soon as he puts on a mocking voice, the Winchester's eyes pry open, and a frown appears upon his flushed face.

"Okay, first; I don't sound like that... And, second; why do I have a cold. In freakin' _July?_ " He sits up on the couch, and folds his arms for extra effect.

Castiel chuckles lightly, taking a seat next to him – choosing to ignore the fact that Dean is not so subtly shuffling as far away from him as possible right now. "Firstly, I know you don't... I wasn't holding my nose," he smirks jokingly, glancing over to see that Dean still looks grumpy. "And, second... Because you abused your already crappy immune system thanks to your exams." Cas admits – and, even Dean knows that it's true. Which is why he chooses not to answer what Castiel has just pointed out.

When the menu option for the movie flashes up onto the TV, Cas chooses the right option. "Dean, you don't have to sit that far away." A sigh parts from Novak's lips, as he watches his boyfriend struggle to move any farther.

Side eyeing him briefly, the Winchester nods. "I have an immune system of steel – especially when it comes to you. Friendly reminder I've looked after you every time you got sick over the past five months, and not once did I catch a thing." Reaching out to get a grip upon Dean's arm, Cas pulls him closer, before he can even think about protesting.

He doesn't stop pulling until Dean is safely snuggled up into his chest, and then he places a kiss upon his forehead. "Take your hoody off, before your temperature rises." His voice enters Dean's ears, along with the theme tune to Aristocats, that has just started.

Making some kind of annoyed grunting noise in response, Dean finds that his eyes are already growing heavy. He can just about smell the faint aroma of Castiel's cologne – the one he likes, not the one that gives him breathing problems – and, the feeling of Cas' hand absentmindedly toying with his hair is causing him to relax even more.

Finally having the safe feeling of being in his boyfriend's arms again, after having needed this all day, Dean let's himself fall into a deep, and comforting sleep. Castiel sighs softly, as the sound of incessant snoring competes with the sound of the movie.

He had originally booked this weekend off as a surprise to Dean, and he was going to take them out somewhere... An attempt to distract his boyfriend from the previous two weeks of hard working with exams. But, considering current circumstances, it looks like Cas is going to be working from home instead.


	27. Chapter 27

Dean actually slept for so long, that Cas had to practically carry him to bed. And, for the rest of the night Novak took the sofa downstairs, trying and failing to sleep. Dean's incessant coughs kept him awake for most of the night, and on the rare occurrence that all was quiet, he was too busy worrying about his boyfriend.

It's now almost ten am, and Castiel is snuggled up in his duvet, drinking his second cup of coffee. He's watching TV on mute, listening out for Dean. As if on cue, he hears him start to cough – but, this time he doesn't just roll over and stop.

Untangling himself from the warm nest of comfort, Cas bounds up the stairs and into Dean's room. In awe of how Dean hasn't even woken himself up yet, he scans the room for where the idiot last left his inhaler. Walking towards the night stand, he grabs it, and then proceeds to shake Dean awake.

In a rather confused, and dazed state of mind, the Winchester mumbles something incoherent inbetween coughs. "Dean!" Cas raises his voice, and pulls him into a sitting position.

Dean's eyes open just a little, and then he covers his mouth with his hand now that he's concious enough to visualise Castiel standing right in front of him. Rolling his eyes in frustration, Cas pushes the inhaler into Dean's hand. Once he's used it, his breathing begins to become normal again, and the coughing fit subsides.

"It's like you're _trying_ to send me into cardiac arrest," Cas exhales heavily, plonking himself down onto Dean's bed.

The Winchester scoffs in a joking way, "I had it under control." A laugh emits from Novak, who looks over at him.

"How're you feeling, anyway?" He asks, intently concentrating on Dean's facial expression – ready to detect a lie.

"Eh," he simply shrugs, which was a much more truthful answer than Cas had been expecting.

Leaving Dean to get into the shower, Cas goes back downstairs to prepare them both some breakfast – with lots of added vitamin C.

After having raided Dean's medicine drawer (where he keeps medical equipment – his medicine cupboard is for the actual medicine), Cas weat back upstairs and faced Dean with an old fashioned thermometer.

"Open," he instructs, to where a shirtless Dean is now lying on his bed – eyes closed.

"Please leave me alone to die," is the raspy reply, to which Castiel rolls his eyes... _Again._

A few second later, Dean opens his eyes, and looks up at Cas – a confused expression plastered across his slightly pale complexioned face. "Wait, why aren't you at the hospital?" He questions, before sitting himself up on the bed.

"I, uh – I booked the weekend off a couple of weeks ago," he answers, taking the opportunity of Dean yawning to put the thermometer into his mouth.

"Why?" The Winchester rubs his eyes, and then decides to accept the fact that his boyfriend is a major worrier – as well as a Nurse.

"I was gonna do something with you after your exams, but it's fine." He tries to reassure Dean, but as his face drops, he knows that he feels bad.

"So, basically I ruined our plans." Sinking down in the bed, he closes his eyes again.

Cas takes the thermometer out of his mouth, and examines the reading. "I didn't really have anything planned in particular, so we can watch movies today and it'll still be relaxing..." He trails off, focusing his attention back on the thermometer inbetween his fingers.

"What's the diagnosis? Am I hot?" Dean wriggles his eyebrows, and pokes Cas with his foot.

"It's not a fever temperature, but it's certainly rising."

"Did you just use your Nurse voice?" Dean snorts, feeling amused that his boyfriend can so easily snap back into a professional state when faced with a thermometer and a poorly partner.

"N – no? My _what?_ I have a what?" Castiel stammers, feeling himself growing hotter now.

Before Dean can continue to tease him even more, there's a firm knock on the door downstairs. Seeing that Dean is about to get up and out of bed, Cas holds a hand out in front of him – stopping him from doing so. "I'll get it," he carefully pushes Dean back onto the bed, ignoring the fact that he doesn't look too pleased about it.

Cas runs down the small flight of stairs, and then jogs his way to the door. Flinging it open, he's about to greet whoever may be standing there, – guessing that it's either Charlie, or the mailman – but, he's soon lost for words, when a rather towering man appears before him.

Realising that he hasn't spoken, and just stared, Cas clears his throat to try and speak. "Is my son in?" The guest beats him to it, and then Novak is fairly sure his own heart just skipped a beat.

"Dean?"

"Um... Yes?" _Of course he's talking about Dean, why would he be talking about Sam?! Oh, God._

"S – sure, uh, he's just..." Stumbling over his words, Cas turns around to yell out for the Winchester.

It seems that he doesn't even need to though, as his eyes soon meet with those of green. Dean has just entered the joint kitchen and living room, and now he's staring at the doorway with the same look of shock and fear that Cas had experienced just a few moments ago.

"Dad?!" He finally manages to splutter, feeling rather awkward about the current situation.

The man at the door looks from Cas, and then to his shirtless son. "Dean... I had come to visit, and ask how your exams are," he steps inside the apart meant, not awaiting an invitation.

As it seems like he's planning on staying, Castiel moves to shut the front door. "So, who's your friend?" Dean's father seems like an extremely intimidating person, – in Cas' opinion, anyway – and, he also doesn't seem to know about Dean's new boyfriend. Wanting to hide in the corner, Cas suddenly finds himself blurting out an answer before Dean can even think of an excuse. "I'm his tutor!" He looks over at Dean, who's nodding in agreement.

"Your tutor... Does your tutor usually stay overnight?" Looking towards the pile of pillows and the duvet, Cas silently curses himself for having not tidied up yet.

"Y – yes?" Dean's voice suddenly gets small, as he tries his best to look his Dad in the eye.

Sighing deeply, the man walks up to Castiel. "I'd like to know the truth, please." He states firmly, looking directly into his eyes.

Knowing that he can't lie now, Cas looks over to Dean before he answers. Seeing that he just looks as defeated as he feels, Novak musters up his most confident voice before he exclaims. "I'm dating your son... Sir." Quickly adding the title onto the end of his sentence, Cas stares the man straight back into his eyes.

Pausing for a few moments, he then turns back around to face his son. "And, how long has this been going on for?" He asks, folding his arms over his chest.

"Two months, and three weeks... Give or take," Dean answers back, and Cas smiles at how precise he's being.

Not finding it as cute as Cas does, Dean's Father scoffs. "Am I the only one out of the loop here then?" His voice grows rather defensive, but Dean doesn't back down.

"You barely keep in contact with me.. so why would it be your business who I'm dating?" Mimicking his Father's folded arms position, Dean shifts his feet.

"I'm busy... At work."

"Like you always are then," kissing his teeth, Dean laughs sarcastically. "I don't know why you're even here now... Why didn't you just call, or text? Did Sammy let it slip that I had a date, is that it? Oh my god, that's why you're here, isn't it?! I bet you saw the strange looking car right outside, and felt too nosy to let it go." He scoffs, raising his voice with every word.

As his Dad opens his mouth to speak, he's drowned out by the sound of coughing – thanks to the yelling match a second ago. "You're sick," he comments instead of throwing back another comeback, but his son simply smiles smugly.

"Could you get out of my apartment now?" He asks, ignoring the hint of worry that flashes onto his Father's face.

Leaving his facial expression as quickly as it came, the look of sternness soon comes back. Without another word, the man walks up to the front door, and then opens it. Seconds later, the sound of the apartment practically shaking from such a violent slam echoes throughout the air.

Dean sits down on the sofa, resting his head onto one of the spare pillows that Cas had used last night. "So, glad you could finally meet my Dad!" He remarks sarcastically, his voice worn out from all of the arguing.

"I'd like to say you take after him... But, um, you're not an.. Uh –" whilst scratching at his neck, Dean decides to find the words for him.

"Asshole?"

"I wasn't gonna say it, but yeah." Cas walks back over to his boyfriend, and takes a seat next to him.

Pulling him into a hug, he feels the warmth of his body through his own clothes. Pushing his worries and anxiety from that brief encounter to the back of his mind, he sighs quietly. "Let's watch a movie," he suggests.

"Please," Dean replies, kicking the duvet to the floor, before snuggling into Cas' chest.

"... I can't get off the couch to choose one," he giggles, as Dean's grip on him loosens.

"Sorry," he mumbles, feeling Cas press a small kiss to his cheek.

He smiles, leaning back into the sofa again whilst his boyfriend browses the movie collection. When he hears the familiar tune to 'Aristocats', his eyes open. Castiel _knows_ Dean Winchester, and although he usually hates being fussed over... He's extremely glad to have Castiel Novak in his life right now.


	28. Chapter 28

About half an hour into his nap, and Dean awoke because of his own coughing... _Again._ Literally rolling off of the sofa, and out of Cas' hold, he stumbles into the kitchen. He can feel the judging stare coming from behind him, after Castiel follows him.

"You've literally been living off of coffee the past two weeks. You need tea," he scolds, but Dean scoffs in return.

"Do I look like I need tea?" Turning around, he faces Cas, with a sarcastic look upon his face.

"Well... You certainly _sound_ like you need tea," Novak retaliates, to which Dean rolls his eyes.

Turning his back in order to mimic Cas by miming his words, Dean then reaches up to open his medicine cupboard. Rummaging around for a while, he then resorts to his medicine drawer. "I've run out of cough drops," he grumbles – knowing that there's none upstairs, because he checked this morning.

"I can go to the shops and get some," Castiel offers, his sky eyes full of concern.

Pausing for a moment, Dean sniffles. "Alright, I'll come with you.. I need the fresh air," he decides, heading over to pick up his shoes, from the living room.

Realising that the Winchester probably won't listen to any kind of protests that he tries to make, Cas slips on a pair of shoes also. He awaits for Dean to go and get changed – and, tries not to stare when he comes down the stairs in black skinny jeans, a plain white t-shirt, and his denim jacket. Such a simple outfit compliments him so well, even if he's sick.

Pushing his sunglasses onto his face, Dean makes his way towards the door. Castiel mutters to himself, as he glances over at the coffee pot that now has wasted water inside it, as his boyfriend clearly isn't planning on drinking it now. He then chuckles to himself, as he hears Dean sneeze, and then curse at himself for falling down the front step.

Quickly making his way to the doorway to check on him, he finds him standing up to be perfectly alright. "I regret leaving the apartment," he pouts, waiting for Cas to come and console him.

"Are you going to lock the door... _Or?_ " Trying not to laugh, Novak watches as Dean frowns in confusion for a few seconds, before realising that he's holding the keys.

Murmuering something or other under his breath, Dean traipses back up to the door again. After locking the door, he finds his way to Castiel's side, and rests his head upon his shoulder. "You want me to drive to the store?" Cas questions, noting how exhausted his boyfriend is acting.

Standing up straight again, the Winchester shakes his head. "Nah, I'm okay," he puts on a small smile, before starting to walk down the pathway.

It takes them about ten minutes extra to get to the store, because they have to stop a couple of times after Dean either has to subtly rest, or trip over his own feet. When they arrive, Cas opens the door open for him. They wander over to the medicine aisle, and Dean grabs what he needs in a few seconds flat.

Making their way to the cashier, a familiar voice stops them. "Dean and Cas! What a pleasant surprise," recognising that smug tone from a few months back, the Winchester's facial expression turns into a glare.

Facing the man a few metres away from him, he stops in his tracks. "Oh, hi, Bartholemew!" Smiling extremely sarcastically, Dean then continues to make his way towards the till.

He gets in the line to pay, but when he looks by his side, Cas isn't there anymore. He turns back, to see that his boyfriend is having what looks to be an argument with Shaun. "Cas, he's not worth it, c'mon!" He tries to call over, but his voice fails him.

Sighing heavily, he walks over to them. "Why're you still bothering?" Shaun raises his eyebrows, looking over to Dean – who's still glaring at him, through his sunglasses.

"Fuck off, Shaun. Seriously, it's like you have pleasure in insulting happy people." Cas folds his arms, and rolls his eyes.

Laughing rather obnoxiously, Shaun grins. "You won't be happy for long, Dean will probably cheat... He seems like that kinda guy," a casual shrug follows his rude statement. A statement that Cas nor Dean will accept.

"What, takes one to know one... Does it?" Castiel suddenly lets slip. His eyes immediatley dart towards Dean, who's slowly coming to the realisation as to why Cas broke up with Shaun.

He exhales and inhales a few times, whilst trying to keep his temper under control. "You _cheated_ on him?"

Starting to walk towards the store exit, Shaun laughs yet again. "Well, can you really blame me?" Are the words that flow from his mouth with the upmost confidence, just as he pushes the door wide open, and walks out.

Before Cas can grab Dean to stop him, he's dropped the cough drops out of his hands, and begun to sprint towards the door, after Shaun. His skin hits the direct sunlight once again, and strangely enough, Shaun is standing there... Waiting. "Come on then, use your fists instead of your words." He beckons Dean with a hand gesture, and continues to smiles smugly the whole time.

Walking up to the male, the Winchester takes a few moments to try and decipher the situation. He can hear the door opening again behind him – clearly Cas is standing back, watching. "What's wrong with you?" Is all Dean can say, as he looks back at the broken expression on Castiel's face.

"I could ask the same to you," making a slightly disgusted face, Dean doesn't even notice. He's starting to feel slightly light headed, and beginning to cough inbetween every word.

"Can't you just leave Cas alone? Sure, I don't know the... The full story, but all I know is that you're a rude, sad human being. You need to stay out of mine, and Cas' love life. T – thanks," the coughing grows louder, and it's getting harder for Dean to breath.

Looking on with a frown of confusion, Shaun watches as Cas runs up to Dean. "Did you bring your inhaler with you?!" He holds onto his shoulder, watching as the Winchester is now fully overcome from the coughs that shake his body.

A look of horror dawns upon the worried boyfriend's face, as Dean shakes his head in response to the question. Knowing that it would take them way too long to go home and get one, and the fact that the nearest proper pharmacy is also too far away to run to, Cas grabs his phone from his pocket, and starts to dial a number.

"Don't just fucking stand there, go and check the store for an inhaler!" Castiel yells at Shaun, who's now realising how serious the situation is becoming.

He sprints back inside the store, as Cas starts talking to an emergency operator. "My boyfriend, he's having an asthma attack, and he left his inhaler at home!" His usually calm tone is shaky and rushed, as he then states the proximity of his location.

The door behind him swings wide open again, and Shaun appears by their side. "They – they don't have anything," he states.

Cas carefully lowers Dean to the ground, instructing him to try and focus on his breathing. The tears in those blue eyes are making it hard to make out anything but blurry objects, and his speech is turning into a stuttering mess. Shaun reaches out to take the phone, and he begins to converse with the operator instead.

"They're five minutes away, it's gonna be fine." He tells the couple on the pavement, but they don't hear him.

Cas can't do anything to help Dean – he's a Nurse, he needs to help. He's been in situations with patients so many times, and there's been a lot of times that he's needed to keep a level head, in order to keep the patient calm. But, when the person you love can't breathe, and there is _nothing_ that you can do about it... You start to panic too.

As the distant sound of sirens begins to fill the air, Castiel looks down at Dean's eyes, that are beginning to roll into the back of his head. "Don't pass out on me, you... Idiot!" His voice turns brittle, and his cheeks feel wet.

The ambulance skids around the corner, and soon Cas is surrounded by there paramedics. He feels himself being pulled out of the way, as they move Dean onto a stretcher, and use the correct inhaler on him, before placing an oxygen mask over his face. One of the paramedics leads him towards the ambulance, because his own feet can't move for themselves.

"Sir, are you travelling to the hospital with the patient?" The medical professional has to raise his voice, and physically come within centimetres of Castiel's face, in order to get him to snap out of his daze.

Managing to nod, and slur out a "yes," the man helps him up her step, and then the clunk of the closing doors makes him flinch.

He finds himself being lead towards one of the seats in the ambulance, and then the deafening sirens fill the air again. Cas hears the paramedics shouting things that usually he'd be able to get his head around in a second – but, right now, all he can concentrate on is Dean's eyes lazily flickering open again.

The colour is gradually flooding it's way back into Dean's face, as the oxygen makes its way around his body.

"Cas?" A slur exits those pale blue lips, and Castiel reaches out for Dean's extended hand.

"I'm here," his voice comes out as a crackled squeak, which makes him realises that he's actually crying quite hard, "I'm here, Dean."

Their hands become separated just seconds later, as one of the paramedics attempts to insert a cannula. "Where's Cas? What did you do to him?!" Tears cloud over the barely open eyes of green, that are frantically darting around to try and look for Castiel.

"Dean, I'm here. It's alright," he speaks louder now, clearing his throat so as not to hear his own voice cracking again.

"Cas?!" Trying to pull his oxygen mask off, Dean even attempts at sitting up.

Two of the paramedics settle him back down again, and place the oxygen mask back over his mouth. "Sir, you're going to need to calm down." They look at Cas, who gives them a look to confirm that he's the one who Dean is calling out for.

"He's coming to the hospital with you, don't worry." The man who was putting Dean's cannula in deems successful, as he then starts to plaster it up.

"No, no! Cas, where are you?" Dean's voice breaks, as his face contorts into a look of complete sadness. He tries to bring his hands up to wipe the tears, but one hand is still being held down, and the other is shaking too badly to control.

Unable to look down at Dean without the risk of full on sobbing, Cas has to hide his own face. Of course, the paramedics aren't judging him – they've seen and dealt with enough tears to fuel a hundred rivers. Their patient is growing more and more distressed by the second, and even with Castiel trying to reach out and touch him, Dean clearly doesn't know what's happening.

"We're going to give you a mild sedative now," one woman informs, as she shakes a syringe bottle, before reaching across to hand it to the male paramedic sitting closest to Cas.

After the liquid enters the Winchester's veins, he stops writhing on the stretcher, and starts to mumble a lot of incoherent nothing's. The ambulance pulls into the bay outside he entrance to the ER, and everything starts to become a rush again. They're wheeling Dean inside of the emergency room, and Cas is numbly running behind. "Sir, if you could take a seat whilst we take some tests, please." The woman paramedic places a hand on his shoulder, as he tries to continue following behind the bed.

"I – I can't," he breathes out, using the back of his hand to wipe underneath his eyes.

"Someone will come and get you as soon as they're done. It shouldn't take long, we already have his medical history – they just want to be sure of what caused this, and things." She explains – but, Cas knows the procedure just as well as she does.

"Stress, it – he was arguing, sort of, I don't know... He's sick, I don't think, I – it's just a cold, he's just exhausted, and his immune system, you know?" Rambling on and on, the woman simply nods.

Her touch guides him to a seat, and his body unwillingly collapses into it. "Someone will come and get you soon," she smiles sympathetically, but he's not looking at her to see.

Cas just stares at his sneakers in silence. How many times has he seen worse things happen to complete strangers, and barely even bat an eyelid? But, having seen this happen just once to Dean Winchester... He can't bear to even _think_ of ever coping with it again.


	29. Chapter 29

**_December 2nd, 1981 2.22 a.m._**

"Is he going to be okay?!" The broken whisper of Mary Winchester asks one of the bustling Nurses, as she watches her son get wheeled into the ER.

They both follow behind the paramedics, and the woman reassuringly holds onto Mary's shoulder. "He'll be alright," she soothes, as the tears from Mary's eyes blur her vision.

She stays by Dean's side the whole time he's tested on, and given a nebuliser. He's pretty much unconscious to what's going on, but the delirious yelling for his Mommy doesn't stop. "I'm here, Dean," she squeezes the hand that isn't being used for an IV, "it's alright."

The sound of beeping machines and the buzz of chatter between medical professionals and patients all blends into one. The doctors take a few scans of Dean's chest – now that he sedated, because they decided he was too distressed to stay awake for the rest of their tests. They send his blood work for tests, and they're finally ready to wheel him onto a ward.

Mary's slippers pad along the porters who are pushing Dean's bed along the linen floor before her. He's sleeping soundly, and her tears have almost dried up now. They stop outside the usual paediatric ward he stays on, and it's inside that they're greeted by a warming, familiar smile.

Ellen follows the adults into a side room, where they put Dean's bed into place. The porters leave, and Mary looks up at Ellen with a look of lost hope. "Why won't he get better?" Her voice is barely even audible, as she stares straight down at her feet.

Without speaking, the Nurse walks towards the Mother. She envelopes her into a much needed hug, and then whispers, "he's strong, he'll get through it all."

 ** _December 2nd, 1981, 4.07p.m._**

Dean's little hands fly through the air, making his superman action figure soar above his scruffy head of hair. His oxygen mask is balanced on his head, whilst he plays. "Superman... to the.. rescue!" He's still struggling to talk without coughing through every sentence, and his breathing is all snuffly.

Ellen and his Doctor decided that he didn't need the nebuliser anymore – at around two o'clock – so, he's now just using normal oxygen, as and when. He lays back on his pillow, and his hand reaches down to find his pacifier. It's attached to his pyjamas on a bright red ribbon, so that he won't lose it.

Suddenly, the door to his room is pushed open – and, Ellen comes wandering in. At the moment, Mary has gone down to the canteen for a rest... Since Dean is doing a lot better now. "You're looking better!" She grins, walking over to where the boy is smiling cheekily up at her.

She reaches out for his pacifier, and then replaces it with the oxygen mask. "I don't want the ossy-gen!" Dean huffs, squirming around in his bed to show obvious signs of discomfort.

"Just for a little bit," Ellen tells him – watching his little frowny face. He folds his arms, and sinks down in the bed.

Clearly being overly tired and grumpy, Dean's eyes start to fill with tears. Pretending that she hasn't seen this start to happen, Ellen gets out the thermometer, and starts to try and place it under Dean's arm. The troublesome two year old rolls away from her touch, and scrunches up his eyes.

Walking around the other side of his bed, Ellen chuckles a little. "Where's Dean gone?" She pretends to act surprised, and then just a small flicker of a smile appears upon the boy's pale face.

"C'mon now," a small sigh escapes from her lips, and then one of relief as he sits up for her. Dean Winchester can be a very hard patient to care for... When he wants to be.

As she takes his temperature, he mumbles something underneath the oxygen mask. Unable to hear just what he's telling her, Ellen moves the mask to the top of his head again. "What was that?" She focuses her attention securely on his glassy eyes of green.

"I –" a small sneeze interrupts him, " – I said I like you!" He states proudly, rubbing his little red nose.

Ellen breaks into a genuine smile of happiness, before taking the thermometer from underneath his arm. "Well, you know what?" Her eyes concentrate on the reading, but she's still listening to Dean.

"What?" The boy asks intently, putting the mask back over his face on his own accord.

"I like you too!" She ruffles his hair, whilst making a mental note to get him some oral aspirin, for his rising temperature.

The little Winchester's face lights up with love, but his eyes are gradually beginning to close. Ellen takes his other obs, taking note of his rattling coughs that keep causing his eyes to pry open again. Before he takes his nap, she gives him his inhaler, and sorts out his IV.

Taking a few moments to look back at him, she mumbles "sleep well."

 ** _Present day._**

Castiel has probably been staring at his shoes for less than an hour, but it feels like a year. He barely pays attention to the hubbub of people rushing through the waiting room. Some are crying like himself, and some are pacing back and forth. Some sit numbly on a chair, unsure of what is yet to come. Mirroring him, almost.

"Sir, you're here with Mr Winchester?" A quiet, female voice almost doesn't even catch his attention.

His eyes look up from the ground, and the woman is smiling. "He's sleeping, but you can come and see him now." She informs, and suddenly Cas starts to feel nauseous.

"W – what ward?" Steadying his voice, he shakily stands up from the chair.

Immediatley the woman rushes to his side, having to physically hold him up. "Ward thirty seven, Sir. I'll show you the way," the nurse lets him lean on her, as they start to leave the waiting room.

Cas has no idea what he's going to do when he has to face his colleagues. None of them know he's dating Dean – and, as far as he knows, none of them even know he's _gay..._ Let alone dating a patient. His need to see his boyfriend is far greater than any worry for his nursing career though, so Novak continues to act dumb as to where the nurse by his side is leading him.

When they arrive outside those familiar doors, Castiel inhales deeply. The pair make their way to reception, where they have to stop. Of course, the look on the receptionist's face when she sees the tear stained flushed cheeked nurse who usually looks extra preppy whilst whistling a happy tune along with it... She looks rather surprised, to say the least. "What room is Dean Winchester in?" The nurse on duty asks politely, snapping the receptionist of her one sided staring contest with Cas.

"Uh, room eleven... Why?" The confused tone replies, as Novak can feel her stare boring into his skull once again.

The nurse beside Cas looks at him for a second, before answering. "He has a visitor," she simply states, before taking Novak's arm, and steering him away from the desk.

It seems as if every other staff member on the ward must be busy with their patients, because thankfully Castiel doesn't have to make awkward contact with anyone else along his way to see Dean. Unable to press the handle down on the door by himself, the woman does it for him. As he steps inside the room, the woman leaves him alone.

Wondering if he has any tears left inside him to cry out, Cas rubs his eyes a few times. He pushes the curtain back, to see his boyfriend lying on the hospital bed. His eyes are closed, and his chest is slowly rising and falling in a tired rhythm. The nebuliser and the sound of the IV clicking every now and then is the only sound that fills the room, even drowning out the dull tick of the wall clock.

Castiel gingerly takes a seat on Dean's right, so that he can gently hold onto the pale hand that lays lifeless beside his body. Unable to find words, Cas just lays his head down on the bed, and closes his eyes. "I love you," he whispers, feeling his brain cloud over.

The adrenaline of the whole situation is gradually draining away, and his now exhausted body needs to rest. Being able to touch his boyfriend once more, and know that he's gozing to be alright, means that Cas can actually drift off to sleep safely.


	30. Chapter 30

When Cas awakens, there's a crick in his neck, and for a few confusing seconds he forgets where he is. Then, he remembers. He's asleep on a hospital bed... His boyfriend's hospital bed. The sounds and smells of the room start to come back to him, as he sits up and stretches.

The thirst in his throat causes him to stand up, along with the tired droop of his eyelids. He looks down at Dean, who's own eyes are still stuck closed. Rubbing one hand across his face, Castiel heads out in the search for some much needed coffee.

And, he stays sat next to Dean's bed for the next two hours. He manages to get through four cups, by the time the clock ticks towards eight pm. Everytime a nurse comes in to do Dean's obs, Cas pretends to be asleep in the chair. He can't face anyone right now, let alone one of his colleagues, who might go on a rant about his sexuality. So, he even managed to stay convincing for the twenty minutes that the nurse switched Dean onto normal oxygen, as opposed to the nebuliserDean's breathing is clearly stabalising, which puts Castiel in a much more relieved state of mind.

Lost in thought, Novak almost misses the sight of Dean's eyes slowly breaking open. "Cas?" A tiny voice croaks, and Cas feels the weak squeeze of Dean's hand in his. "Is that you?" The strength of having to keep his eyes open, and talk at the same time, makes him feel extremely worn out.

"Dean, it's me," he sits forwards in his seat, not taking his eyes off of his boyfriend's face.

Cas knows that he should press the nurse's button, and alert them that their patient is awake... But, he just needs to make sure that Dean is alright. He wants to hold Dean in his arms, and apologise for everything. "Cas?" Still drowsy from the sedative, and exhausted from the asthma attack itself, Dean is slightly confused about the situation.

"It's okay... I'm sorry, I'm sorry that this happened." Castiel gently rubs little circles with his thumb, over the back of Dean's hand.

The Winchester starts to properly come to, and a frown appears upon his face. He starts to try and sit up by himself, but Cas quickly assists. "It's not your fault," the oxygen mask and his strained vocal chords make it hard for him to talk loud enough for anyone to hear, but Cas catches it.

"It was my ex-boyfriend," he shrugs sheepishly, shifting in his seat.

Dean sighs, leaning back into his pillow in defeat. "Cas, just... I – you could, you could be with someone better," unsure of what he's trying to say exactly, Castiel finds himself now frowning also.

"I mean..." He grows quiet a little, then having to his throat. Cas pours him a glass of water, and hands it to him. "I mean," after another sip, Dean puts his oxygen mask back on.

"I mean, you don't need to worry about me. You deserve to have all kind of adventures, not to spend your limited amount of free time at the hospital. You deserve the best, and... And, that's just not me."

Fully taken aback that Dean would even _think_ such a thought, Cas almost audibly gasps in shock. Being caught in the moment – when you're rather tired, and running on almost one whole coffee pot – Castiel doesn't even think about the words that fly from his mouth. "But... I love _you,_ " he utters in disbelief, still feeling unsure of Dean's intentions.

Studying Dean's facial expression for any sign of an answer, instead he simply watches as his eyes flutter closed again. A small tear travels downwards, along his pale cheek. "Dean?" The break in his voice makes it obvious that he's a about to cry, but Dean doesn't flinch.

"I don't care if you don't love me back, I love you, Dean Winchester. And, I'm not going fucking anywhere!" Cas raises his voice, just desperate for him to acknowledge his feelings for him. How could he say that? How could he practically insinuate that they should break up?!

Raising upwards from his chair, Novak stamps out of the room. Dean could be asleep, or he could be pretending... But, he definitely heard Cas say those words. There's no excuse for ignoring that, despite how scared or self-hating you may be.

Flinging open the door to Dean's hospital room, Castiel speeds up in order to get out of the ward. He doesn't stop in his track once, until his feet are securely standing upon the sunbeaten concrete of the rundown car park outside. Reaching into his phone in order to dial himself a cab, he feels his cheeks begin to dampen.

Biting down on his lip, he blinks away the tears of anger and sorrow. "What if he doesn't love me back?" He whispers frightfully.

 ** _The next day._**

Receiving a phone call whilst crashing on your couch after four beers isn't the ideal scene. But, it's exactly what happens to Cas, at one pm the next afternoon. A much more awake Dean was on the other end of the line, asking Cas where he went, and if he could come and lick him up – since he's been discharged. Well, he kind of discharged himself, and asked to be able to continue recovering at home.

And, Castiel... Being slightly tipsy and all, offered to pay for a cab. He made up the excuse that he, himself wasn't feeling too well, and that he'd come and see Dean tomorrow. At the back of his mind, he wondered if maybe Dean had already forgotten about yesterday. Maybe the sedatives overcame him too much, made him say those things, and then also caused him to forget what had happened?

Which is good, because that means he forgot what Cas said too... _Right?_

 **The following morning.**

The knot of guilt that Castiel had to wrestle with the whole night before – about not seeing Dean after he came out of the hospital – caused him an extreme lack of sleep. After waking up at six am, downing a lot of coffee with his slightly stale toast, Novak got straight into his car and drove to Dean's apartment.

He's now standing on the doorstop, thinking how stupid he is for getting here so frickin' early. Of course Dean won't be awake yet. He knocks quietly, just incase the Winchester is up and about at seven am – miracles _do_ happen, sometimes.

Strangely enough, a shuffling sound grows closer and closer behind the door. It clicks and creaks as whoever is behind it places the key into the lock, and then a disheveled looking Dean appears in the doorway. "Cas!" His worn out vocal chords exclaim happily, and Novak is being pulled into a warm hug before he can even greet him back.

Immediatlety wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's torso in return, Cas takes in that nostalgic scent of cologne and cough drops. "I'm really sorry for heading off like that the day before yesterday, I was in a shitty frame of mind," his voice is muffled against Dean's hoody.

Letting Cas go, Dean steps back with a loom of confusion on his face. "I thought you left to go home and sleep?" Uttering the question so convincingly, Cas assumes that Dean has indeed forgotten.

"Uh – uh," stammering and unsure of what to reply back, Novak nervously scratches at the back of his neck.

Dean steps aside, and then gestures for Castiel to come in. His apartment is brighter than usual – due to the curtains being wide open, as well as the windows – and, it's even looking like Dean's had a tidy up. "I got bored, couldn't sleep." He shrugs, walking back over to the couch.

"I've been ordered bed rest, for at least a week," a puppy dog pout appears on his face, as he curls up in the corner of the couch.

Cas smiles over at him. His nose is still red, but his face is actually a picture of colour now – a nice change, compared to the sickly pale that it was the day before last. Plus, he's still noticeably speaking in that nasally tone... But, once again, Cas much prefers this to hearing him barely able to even speak due to the pain in his throat and chest. He _detested_ seeing the love of his life like that, and he never wants to experience it again.

He just... Wishes that the love of his life knew that.


	31. Chapter 31

_**1 week later.**_

It's a Sunday afternoon when Dean finally puts on some actual 'going out of the house clothes', and heads off to the florist downtown. Meanwhile, Cas is going about his daily duties, his head full of anxious thoughts... Meg has asked him to come and talk to her after their shifts end, and he's terrified of getting fired. She asked him this yesterday, during their night shift. He hasn't told Dean yet, because he knows he'll just blame himself.

"I fricken' hate that place," Dean mumbles through gritted teeth, dodging his way out of the door and past a lovey dovey hetero couple.

He crosses the street and begins along a path he's walked many times before. Holding the bouquet of flowers gently by his side, he quickens his pace until he's the only person occupying the path, a few miles ahead.

The air is quiet – a few birds sing, and a couple of cars pass by – it's early evening time, so most people are still at work, or at home relaxing in the late rays of sun. Dean passes a family walking back from the nearby playground, and he smiles at the little girl who excitedly points at his 'pretty flowers!' Her mother ushers her along, and if they hadn't gotten into their parked car so quickly, he'd probably have given her one.

More minutes pass, and he's almost there. The worn down gate comes into view, and the squeak of the rusty iron creaks underneath the touch of his fingertips. He makes sure that the latch is closed behind him, and then his feet tread on the gravel below. Knowing where to go with his eyes closed and walking backwards, Dean comes to a stop three rows along, through the overgrown grass by the pebbled paths. "Hi, mom." A whisper escapes him, as he carefully kneels down beside the grave.

His hands shake just a little as he sweeps away the old flowers – he usually visits once a week at the least, whenever Cas is at work and he's not in college. The last time he laid flowers was the day he fell sick, so it's been just over a week since the grave has seen a fresh pop of colour. Dean always buys her old favourite – he remembers them filling up his hospital room in the winter, and he remembers John buying them as an apology gift more than often.

"I'm feeling a lot better today, so I came to visit," despite being the only person in the cemetery, his voice stays below normal volume.

He feels the summer's breeze wash over his face, and shivers a little. "Remember Cas? I told you about him, he's the guy I'm dating. It's kinda weird to tell you that, because you never got to see me grow up. I hope you'd be proud – I'm not sure Dad approves, but I don't care." He tends to ramble to Mary every time he comes, it's a good way to vent out his caged feelings.

Sometimes he'll just sit there for a while, without talking. Sitting deep in thought, or just having an escape from the busy bustle of his studying during the weekdays. He'll remember old times with his Mom and Sam, and smile to himself, hoping that she's smiling somewhere too.

Dean sighs quietly. He realises the bouquet is still placed in his lap, so he carefully unwraps the pink plastic, and places each flower around the grave. As he places the last few from the bunch, he continues to talk. "Cas told me he loves me last week, but I pretended not to remember... I tried to tell him he deserves someone better than me, and he got upset. He loves _me._ I mean – I just, that's never... It's _scary,_ Mom."

The clouding over sky suddenly parts in the middle, causing the sun to beat down upon the ground. Dean squints his eyes from the sudden burst of light, and shrugs off his jacket. Scrunching the material up into a ball, he puts it onto the ground. Now that he has a makeshift pillow, the Winchester lies down on the floor. "I think I love him too," he closes his eyes.

"I – I know I love him. I love Castiel Novak!" Dean's voice gradually returns to normal volume, and then he returns to a sitting position.

A smile tugs at the corners of his mouth, as his eyes scan the words he's learnt off by heart that are engraved on the headstone before him. "I'd like to think that if you were here, you'd love Cas too. You'd probably bake with him, and embarrass me with baby photos and stories... I love you, Mom. I'll come and see you again soon.. With Cas this time. Yeah, I want you to meet Cas." The smile on Dean's face holds a little sadness, but overall he's happier than he's been in days.

He stands up from the ground, and picks up his jacket. Brushing the dirt off of himself and the clothing garment, he then pulls it back on. Pressing a kiss to the four fingers of his right hand, he touches it against the cold stone below. "Thank you," Dean gathers up the old flowers from last week, and then takes one more glance at his Mom's grave, before making his way to the nearby trashcan.

The old flowers fall to the bottom – not many people visit here, it's a small town and most people who're buried here are related to the youth that have escaped the tiny town life. He turns on his heels once more, the crunch of the gravel echoing throughout the deserted cemetery. His eyes land upon his little self made flower display, just underneath the words _'loving Wife, Mother, and a friend to so many.'_

The rusty gate has blown open when Dean goes back towards the exit, and a tiny bird is sitting upon it. The creature flies away just as he approaches the iron structure, but Dean stops to watch it land in a nearby tree. After being temporarily slowed down by nature, Dean is now on his way home. The pathway is quiet again, apart from a few dog walkers – reminding him of every time John would take himself and Sam to the park, and then anytime Sam saw a dog he'd get over excited and pester John for a dog for days on end.

Dean smiles at more memories, and then quietly reminisces to himself all of the way home. By the time he arrives home it's already seven pm – usually he'd go straight to the hospital to wait for Cas, but he's still fussing over Dean and his health. He most likely assumes that Dean has stayed inside again all day, and he'd probably start freaking out if Dean made his way to the hospital. So, he awaits at home for his boyfriend to return instead.

The sound of his phone buzzing from a text notification catches Dean's attention almost immediately after he's closed the front door... And, it's from Cas. Telling Dean he'll be a little bit late home, because he's 'having a talk with Meg.' _That can't be good._

Typing a supportive message back, he takes a seat on the couch. A few things run through his mind about what Cas might be talking to Meg about – but, the worst one of all is that he'll get fired, due to having a personal relationship with one of his patients. Despite Cas sending a separate texting telling Dean not to worry, he in fact does spend the next hour and a half doing just that.

When the door to his apartment clicks to alert that someone's coming in, Dean is in the kitchen washing up the bowl from his noodles. As soon as Cas walks in the door, his boyfriend hurries up to him. "What happened?!" Dean blurts out, studying those eyes of blue for any emotional tells.

"It's fine... It's all being sorted out, _and_ I still have a job." A half smile is painted across his features, but he still seems washed out.

Dean places his hands on Cas' hips, and presses a small kiss to his cheek. "Cas?" His forehead rests upon his boyfriend's shoulder, as he quietly hums his name.

"Yes, Dean?" Castiel replies sleepily, his own hands finding their place interlocked behind Dean's back.

"I love you."


	32. Chapter 32

_**"I love you."**_

Castiel's hands drop behind Dean's back, and he stares into those green eyes. "Y – you can't just spring that upon me like that!" He all of a sudden stutters, looking dazed, almost.

Dean isn't sure whether to smile, or to act offended. "You can't look at me like that," he decides on a sentence a few moments later, and his smile drops a little.

Castiel tilts his head to one side. "Like what?"

"Like you're about to cry," Dean mumbles – remembering the only other time he's seen Cas cry, and it pretty much broke him in half.

Cas can't quite bring anymore words to the surface, but he blinks away any excess water that had been in danger of spilling. "Sorry," is all that he can quite muster up, and then continue to stare longingly into Dean's eyes.

"Cas, I have a confession..." He then mumbles, his eyes trailing down from the blue in front of him, and down to Cas' work sneakers.

Castiel doesn't speak, he just nods for his boyfriend to go on. "I did hear you tell me that you love me at the hospital, and I want to apologise for making you mad. I just – I just want you to be happy, and I felt like maybe that wouldn't be with me... But, now I know that I can't let you go, because I love you too." Dean explains without taking one single breath, because he just has to get it out of his system as fast as possible.

"It's alright – you know, I shouldn't really have gotten mad. I should've stayed, and talked with you about it." Cas picks up Dean's hands again, and takes in his touch.

"I want to kiss you now," the Winchester murmurs, his eyes solely focused on the light pink lips before him.

Without giving permission, Cas simply moves closer in order to let Dean know that he wants this too. Their eyes flutter closed as if totally in sync, and then their lips brush together. Dean's hands lightly cup Castiel's face, as they move even deeper into the kiss.

Full-on making out in Dean's living room, when a mobile phone ringtone pierces the air, they almost don't even notice. "Ignore it, it's yours." Cas mumbles into his lips, the vibrations of his gruff voice causing Dean to almost shiver.

"That's what I was planning," he replies, readjusting his arms to rest upon his boyfriend's shoulders, and interlocking his fingers behind his head.

The phone eventually stops ringing, but not even ten seconds later and it's buzzing across the coffee table once again. "Fuck sake," Dean pulls away from Cas first, leaving him standing with his eyes still closed.

"This isn't over," Dean yells out, as he jogs towards the coffee table that's a couple of metres behind them.

Not bothering to read the caller ID, he answers with a rather pissed off " _what?!"_

"Dean," he would recognise that deep-voiced, trying to stay civil tone from anywhere...

... "Dad?" His tone changes from angry to slightly surprised, despite being mad that his Father just basically ruined a rather important moment within himself and his boyfriend's relationship.

"Listen, I know this is kinda out of the blue and all... But, I wanted to apologise for a few weeks ago. I wanna meet your – your, uh... Castiel, properly. Could you both come to dinner this Sunday?" His Father struggles to make the words roll from his tongue, and Dean spends most of his struggle rolling his eyes.

He glances over at Cas, who's got more of a poker face on than anything else. "I'd have to check with my boyfriend first, about his work hours... I'll call you back later," Dean purposefully states the word that his Dad was having so much trouble saying.

"Okay, thank you. Talk to you lat –" Dean abruptly hangs up the phone, and then carelessly tosses it down onto the couch.

Exhaling heavily, he takes a seat next to the device. "Can we go to Sunday dinner together, at my Dad's house?" He looks over at Cas, who is already making his way towards him.

"I guess so, after my shift?" He chews absentmindedly on his bottom lip, and Dean can tell that he's not fully comfortable with the thought.

"You don't have to come, just 'cause it's my Dad." Castiel sits down next to Dean, and the Winchester drapes an arm loosely around his slumped shoulders. "I'll just tell him you couldn't get the hours off," he finishes kindly.

"No, no. I'll go, or it'll just get put off and become even more awkward. I can do it," he leans over and places a kiss to Dean's cheek.

Kind of having lost the whole making out mood, the pair sit and hold hands for a while instead. "I'll call him later," Dean eventually breaks the silence, and Castiel nods in agreement.

He rests his head upon Dean's shoulder, and closes his eyes. Wanting to forget about pretty much everything – despite his meeting at work going okay, he just didn't want to mention it right now, and after the whole 'I love you' drama, Dean has forgotten about it anyway – and just fall asleep next to his boyfriend.

Which is exactly what he does – barely even ten minutes later.

 ** _Sunday evening._**

Despite being deadly nervous about coming face to face with Dean's father again, Castiel agreed to attending the meal. He got off work at seven pm, and now himself and Dean are rushing to get ready and head out.

"I don't know what to wear," Cas whines dramatically, collapsing onto Dean's unmade bed.

His boyfriend walks into the room, filling it with the aroma of cologne. "Wear clothes," he helpfully contributes, whilst buttoning up his plain white shirt.

Cas watches intently as Dean's fingers make his way up towards the top button, and then he walks over to his chest of drawers. Pulling out a pair of black, skinny jeans, he then proceeds to yank them up his legs.

"Dean..." He begins, looking genuinely worried about something.

The struggling individual who's currently having a one way battle with his jeans, glances upwards. "What?" He replies through gritted teeth, and then finally gets the pants all the way up.

"What if I get a boner?" He asks with such seriousness in his tone, that Dean contemplates not bursting into a fit of laughter... That contemplation lasted about 0.1 seconds though, as he's now almost doubled over with amusement.

Leaning against the chest of drawers for support, he wipes a tear from his eye. "Then my Dad will be even more scarred for life," he shrugs.

"Now, get dressed!" A bundle of clothes come flying towards the stressed out nurse, who doesn't end up catching them, so they land upon various parts of his body instead.

Dean seems to have chosen his outfit for him – a short sleeved, black shirt, accompanied by a pair of black skinny jeans. "An outfit to truly compliment my soul," Castiel jokes, causing his boyfriend to smirk.

Fifteen minutes later and they're putting their shoes on, realising that it's getting even later and they don't actually have time to make out. The pair hurry out of the door – almost forgetting to lock it – and, then climb into Castiel's car together.

The first thing Dean does is click the radio on with his knuckle, and then quietly hum along to whatever tune comes on. He stares out of the window, almost not noticing the fact that Cas' breathing is slowly intensifying.

When the current song fades to the radio presenter beginning to talk, Dean reaches over and turns the volume down. His eyes glance to his right, and he notices just how tightly Cas is gripping the steering wheel. "You okay?" He asks, with concern growing for the man next to him.

At first Cas doesn't even acknowledge the fact that Dean has just asked him a question, until he repeats it. Nodding slightly, they stop at a stop sign. "I think your Dad's gonna hate me," he suddenly blurts out, blinking his eyes rapidly.

"Cas," reaching out to touch his hand, Dean's eyes soften. "My Dad is a douche, but _I_ love you."

Getting beeped at by the car behind, Castiel quickly pulls away from the junction. "I love you too," he keeps his eyes on the road, and continues to blink away tears.

"Listen, we're five minutes away now... But, I'll be there every second of the way, okay?" He reassures, as Cas indicates to turn into the road that John lives down, after Dean uses his hand to gesture him to do so.

He drives slow, until Dean tells him to 'stop' outside of quite a large family looking home. Taking a deep breath, the Winchester is the first to step out of the car. He's barely been back to his childhood home since he moved out three years ago – the place holds some great memories to him, but a few more bad ones than good.

Peering inside the car window, he sees Castiel muttering away to himself. Eventually, he steps out of the car, and Dean immediately finds his hand reaching for Cas'. They interlock fingers, and then Cas locks his car. "What's the worse that could happen, eh?" Dean jokes, as they begin a slow walk up to the house.

Before Dean can even connect his fist towards the wooden door before him, it swings open to reveal John looking slightly impatient. "Hi, I'm John!" He extends a hand towards Castiel, who shakily lets go of Dean's, and extends it towards his Dad.

"C – Castiel," he introduces back, feeling his hand drop to his side a few seconds later.

John nods towards his son, "Dean," he even smiles a little. Then, stepping aside he lets the couple into the hallway. The first thing that Cas sees is a medium sized frame on the wall, and inside the fancy frame is a family photo – Mother, Father, and their two sons. Dean looks to be around five years old, so Sam must've been about two.

Theyre then lead into the dining room, where the cutlery and plates are already laid out. "I'll go get the food, sorry if it's a little cold." John announces, leaving the room to enter the kitchen.

Dean takes a seat first, and then Cas barely snaps out of his daze to sit next to him. Realising there's no cutlery set out on this seat, his eyes travel to the chair opposite him, that's fully set out. The head of the table has also been set out for a guest, and then Cas realises John's seating plan.

"Damn it, now I can't innapropriatlet touch you from under the table." The younger Winchester pouts, as Castiel tries to stand up, but then gets so uneasy from Dean's sudden exclamation, that he smacks his knee underneath the piece of furniture.

Just as he finds his way to his seat – whilst ignoring the childish snickering coming from his childish boyfriend – John then comes in with some food. He lays it out on the table, and informs them both to help themselves, as he heads out to get some more. "I'm too scared to eat, what if I vomit all over your Dad's fancy plates?" He whispers across the table, as Dean's already piling roast potatoes onto her plate.

"That'd be funny," he states with a mouthful of food, which doesn't really help Cas' nausea.

A few moments later John's footsteps enter the dining room again, so Castiel hurriedly places a few things onto his plate. Beginning to cut up the food so as not to look rude, he pretends not to notice the stare John gives him as he sits down. "So, what do you do for a living?" He confidently asks the timid guest to his left, and Cas looks up at him so fast, that he almost receives minor whiplash.

"I'm a Nurse," he replies as calmly as he can manage.

Dean swallows his food, and then quickly joins the conversation before Cas has a nervous breakdown. "It's how we met," he adds, making sure to smile.

"I see... Isn't that against policy though?" John places some food into his mouth, and it takes all of Dean's will to not start an argument.

"Yeah, but I'm not Dean's Nurse anymore," Cas informs, and John simply utters an _'oh.'_

(Dean and Cas had already had this conversation the next morning after his meeting with Meg, so thankfully this statement didn't cause any awkward silences between the boyfriends.)

They all continue to eat for a while, and the silence _is_ awkward, but not due to any conflict between Dean and Castiel. The conversation sometimes switches from careers and then Dean will veer it towards something on a lighter topic instead. When the plates have been cleared, Cas kindly offers to help clear up.

"It's alright," John replies – most likely afraid that the nervous wreck will drop one of the plates.

Leaving the couple alone in the room, Dean wipes his mouth with one of the serviettes, and then wiggles his eyebrows at Cas from across the table. "That didn't go too bad," he comments.

The clashing noises in the kitchen disguise Dean standing up from his chair, and then he walks around the table to where Cas is still sat rather still. "I could make out with you right now," he smirks, getting closer and closer to Castiel's ear.

"Stop," he squirms in his seat, ducking away from the skin to skin contact.

Sighing heavily, Dean pulls Castiel's chair away from the table. "You're no fun," he whispers, heading towards the kitchen.

"I'm gonna go show Cas around," he tells his dad, who's busy loading the dishwasher.

Before John can either agree or disagree, his son hurries back into the dining room. "Would you like to accompany me away from the presence of the dick in the kitchen?" Dean's voice is barely at a low enough volume, causing Cas' anxiety to heighten yet again.

Without actually uttering a reply, he still finds himself standing up. The pair lace their fingers together, and then Dean leads him towards the staircase. Planning to show him a few things about his childhood, they start off with walking towards his old room...


	33. Chapter 33

... As the pair walk up the stairs, Cas observes the frames photos that are scattered up the walls. There's a few of Sam and Dean when they were younger, and then a beautiful portrait of whom Castiel assumes to be Dean's mother. There's barely any photos of her so far, and he wonders whether or not that this is fully down to John.

They soon reach a closed door, that has worn out paint all over it. Dean lets go of Cas' hand for a moment, and pauses. Taking a breath inwards, he pushes the door handle open. "This is my crib," he smirks jokingly, hesitantly stepping inside.

Castiel lets his eyes wander around the room. The bed is neatly made, and there's one teddy bear at the end of it. On the dresser is a Superman action figure, that's surrounded by a collection of framed photos – three each side of the figure, and one of them is Dean as a toddler, with his Mom. The other is Dean holding a newborn Sam, and then a photo of John cheering Dean on as he scores a goal in their backyard.

On the other side of the figure, one of the photos is Dean in a hospital bed – smiling widely along with a young girl, who looks a lot like Jo. The other is Dean as a teenager, and hes jokingly throwing up a peace sign, with teenage Charlie. Lastly, there's a copy of the portrait photo like the one on the wall by the stairs, of Mary.

"You coming in?" The Winchester asks, and snaps Cas out of his trance.

He steps inside, and continues to take in his surroundings. Finally, his eyes rest upon a dusty looking guitar, that's placed in the corner of the room. "I didn't know you played," he starts to walk towards the instrument, and looks back at Dean in awe.

Pushing his door shut, Dean half-smiles. "I used to... Kinda," he begins. He sits down on his bed, and sighs. It seems that he hasn't been here in a while, and he's taking everything in almost as if he's a newcomer too. "Pass it here, I think can remember some stuff."

Carefully picking the guitar up into his hands, Cas makes sure to rid of all of the dust before handing it to his (very asthmatic) boyfriend. "Thanks," Dean smiles. He holds it in his hands for a bit, and then positions it right.

His fingers brush along the strings, and then he fiddles around with the tuning devices. Castiel takes a seat next to Dean on the bed, and crosses his legs. He watches as his boyfriend's fingers go to where they need to in order to make the music, and he's completely infatuated with Dean's little concentration face.

After messing around with the tuning, the sound of an actual song starts to fill the air. Castiel's mouth turns upawed into a smile at the intro... But, what comes next is something completely unexpected.

"Wise men say, only fools rush in..." Castiel's eyes widen at the sound that's leaving Dean's mouth.

 ** _Dean sings? Dean can sing?!_**

Despite his hands slightly shaking with nerves, Dean manages to look up from the body of guitar, and into the eyes of blue instead. "And, I can't help... Falling in love with you..." His voice trails off, and he starts to move the guitar towards the floor.

"Keep singing," Cas whispers.

"Like a river flows, surely to the sea..." Dean mumbles the tune, but his eyes are purely concentrated on Castiel's lips now.

He slowly moves in, and closes his eyes. Their lips brush against eachother, and then the kiss is secured. "I love you, so much." Cas murmurs against his mouth, just as Dean moves the guitar and brings his hands to cup Castiel's face.

"I love you too..." Withdrawing backwards slightly, he feels a hot blush creeping up his neck. "I've never really sang to _anyone_ before." Dean admits, as his eyes flicker from Cas' and back to his hands.

"You're shaking," Cas whispers. He presses a kiss to Dean's cheek, and then takes his hands.

Dean bites his lip. "Can I show you something?" He blurts out, and then jumps down from the bed.

He makes is way to his window, and then slides it upwards. "This was my escape back in the day," he explains, and outstretches his hand towards Cas – who's still sat on the bed, looking a little confused.

Dean uses his hand to gesture Cas to take it, and then he lets go so that he can climb out of the window. Following in pursuit, they then both end up on a small stretch of flat roof. There's a perfect view of the dusk dusted sky, and below them is the overgrown yard that was once a safe haven for two kids. Dean holds tightly onto Castiel's hand. "Thank you for making my life less crap," he leans backwards, and looks up at the stars that are starting to appear.

"Touché," he places a small kiss onto his favourite freckle peppered nose.

Clearly extra blushy tonight, Dean's face turns yet another shade of baby pink. His head rests against the crook of Cas' neck, and he closes his eyes. It's like he's never felt so safe, with the warm feeling of being beside his significant other rushing across him like a comforting wave. "I wish you didn't do so many hours at work," the Winchester whines into Cas' ear.

The warm feeling of his breath against his skin causes Cas to sigh gently. "I'm going to sort something out, I promise." He replies quietly, and rubs his thumb over Dean's hand.

They take in each others presence – their comforting aroma, and just the feeling of their touch makes each of them feel a sense of belonging. "Good." Dean yawns.

"I want to grow old with you... Without getting sappy, of course."

Castiel grins. "Of course."

 ** _(Sorry that this is so short, but this is the penultimate chapter! The next chapter will be a time skip, and it will be long. Thank you for reading my fanfic, and even though it'll end soon, I'm excited to move on and write something new!)_**


	34. Chapter 34

_So, this is it... The end of Ward 37! Thank you so much to everyone who has ever read, commented, and left kudos on here. I love you all!_

 _I can't believe I'm actually finishing a fanfic._

 _Check out my other Destiel works if you like, and keep your eyes peeled on here... Just incase I decided to post a little epilogue!_

 _Lots of love - Sam. x_

 ** _3 months later._**

Dean takes deep breaths, leaning up against the bathroom door frame as he prays out loud for Charlie to answer her god damn mobile phone. Drops of sweat align his forehead, and his fingers are turning white from how hard he's gripping the small object inside of his left hand.

Finally, after three rings, the girl picks up. "You just interrupted one of the best makeout sessions I've ever had, this better be important, boy!" Her fiery tone snaps aggressively upon answering him.

He withdraws a shaky breath from his body, and prepares to explain his extremely important reason for calling. "I need advice, like, help me I've done something stupid and I think Cas might hate me advice!" He blurts out without taking a breath, which causes a moment of gasping.

"Are you alright?" Charlie's tone suddenly becomes serious, as she listens to her lifelong best friend begin to freak out.

"I found a box, Charlie. A tiny, _ring sized_ box..." The Winchester trails off, tears pricking his eyes and stinging at his iris'.

A loud, gasp echoes down the phone, throughout his ears. "No way!" The redhead sounds like she's about to freak out more than him – like that's even possible – as her mind begins to process what Dean may, or may not be insinuating.

"It's an engagement ring, Char. There's an engagement ring in the tiny, ring sized box!" Dean's voice cracks upon the last word, and he sinks his body to the floor.

Guilt is washing over him, and terror laps at the edges. "Alright, let's be calm now," Charlie's voice attempts to soothe him, as his breathing begins to quicken. "Do you know when he's planning to propose?" She asks.

That word repeats itself over and over inside of Dean's mind. Castiel wants to propose to him. Propose.

Snapping himself out of the frightened thoughts, Dean starts to think logically. "He said that he'd booked this weekend off... For _us!_ " He remembers a conversation that they'd had over dinner on Monday night, but it was so casual that Dean had brushed it off – thinking that maybe Cas wanted a movie marathon, or something as simple as that.

"Alright, so theoretically that could be tomorrow," she oh-so-helpfully points out, and Dean screws his eyes shut tight.

"Charlie, what am I going to do?! I can't just give him the ring back, and be like – _'oh, here you go! I found this on the floor after you were late for work, ever so sorry.'_ Can I?!" Dean is becoming frantic, as he spits each word down the line.

"Hey, breathe," Charlie instructs sternly, and Dean starts to do as he's told. "You could subtly put it back, and maybe explain it all to him when you get to wherever he has planned to, you know what to you," she suggests, and Dean runs it over in his head... Would it really be all that simple?

But, then he has a thought. _"Actually, what if I..."_

"What am I going to do, Mandy?" Castiel's top set of teeth dig so deeply into his bottom lip, that he very nearly draws blood.

Salty liquid spills out of his eyes and down onto the staffroom table. His sniffs and shaky intakes of breath are the only sound that fill the room, as Mandy looks on at the breaking man with upmost sympathy.

"You'll find it, don't worry!" She gushes, reaching out to place her palm on top of his.

He drops his head, staring at the tiny pool of tears that have formed below him. "What if Dean finds it? That'll ruin the surprise, and I've been planning this for so long now," he withdraws his hand out from underneath hers, and wipes at his eyes.

It's kind of useless really, because the waterworks don't seem to be stopping any damn time soon. A small sob escapes him, as his brain starts to conjure up each awkward and life ruining scenario about losing the engagement ring (that took him an hour and forty five minutes to pick out) that he was supposed to be giving Dean, tomorrow.

His colleague sighs deeply, and doesn't say anything for a few more minutes. "Why not text Dean, subtly asking him what's up?" The woman suggests, and Cas looks up at her again.

His head shakes, causing his messy head of hair to fly around with it. "That might put him onto me, he can read me like a book now." The tiniest of smiles tugs at the corners of his mouth.

The fellow nurse smiles too. She knows how happy Dean makes Cas, and vice versa. "Look," she begins, wanting to catch Castiel's eye before continuing on. "You both love eachother, and that's all that matters... Right? Whether or not it's a surprise, you're still gonna grow old together." She finalises, but Castiel's bottom lip trembles a little after her words of kindness are done.

"If he says yes," Cas' voice becomes withdrawn to a whisper, and Mandy huffs so loudly that he flinches from the sudden fright.

"Nurse Novak, don't you ever talk like that again!" Her arms fold tightly across her chest, but she quickly withdraws them to reach across the table again. "Of course he will, he's had his eye on you ever since your first damn day."

A wide grin spreads across Cas' dampened complexion. He starts to think of how completely glad he is that he got that ward transfer, and that Dean Winchester was his first ever patient. And, now? Now he's going to marry him.

 ** _Saturday evening._**

"Are we nearly there yet?" Dean whines incessantly, drumming his fingers against the dashboard.

"You just have to wait and see!" Cas reaches over to turn the radio up, in a desperate attempt to drown out Dean's impatience.

The Winchester retaliates by singing to the sound that's playing, but that only causes Castiel to smile. The reason that they're in this car is actually due to Dean's singing, and love for music – Cas managed to bag tickets go a Led Zeppelin gig, two hours down the road. One thing that he has managed to keep as a surprise.

When he had arrived home last night, Dean seemed to be in good spirits. But, there was no sign of the ring. Castiel had to wait until Dean fell asleep inside of his arms, on the sofa, and then wriggle out I order to search his apartment from top to bottom. He literally peeked into every single nook and cranny of the place, but he never found it.

So, his plan is to somehow propose to Dean with no ring. Which should be a rather interesting few minutes.

"Holy shit! You didn't!" Cas is dragged away from his thoughts, by Dean's inner fanboy.

The Winchester seems to have caught sight of a sign that's telling fans where to go for the gig... And, they've just hit the traffic of people queueing to park for it. "I did," Castiel flashes a full toothed grin, and Dean turns to him.

His eyes have a boyish twinkle inside of them, and his face reminds him of the photo that's framed by Dean's bed – of himself, and his mother posing for a photo together. A look of innocence, happiness and purity.

"When we get out of this car, I'm gonna hug you so fuckin' hard!" Dean's voice grows louder with every word, and Cas can't help but laugh at his excitement.

"And, kiss me too?" Cas quips, a smirk working its way across his lips.

Dean mimics his actions, turning to look at his boyfriend. "Oh, and much more than that when we're home again," Castiel grips onto the steering wheel a little tighter, gulping once.

"Hey, traffic's moving," Dean utters with a bout of fake innocence, and then he proceeds to turn up the radio.

He taps along to the preppy beat, against his knee and bobs his head. Cas is overcome by a sense of happiness for what's to come... He's praying that Dean will accept the fate of spending the rest of their lives together, because Castiel wants nothing more than to spend many more car journeys together. Listening to Dean sing, and probably arguing about who's job it was to pack the map.

They sit in traffic for about another twenty minutes, and then they're finally let into the field that's acting as a makeshift parking lot for the outdoor gig. The stage is surrounded by woodland, and the sun is only now beginning to set over the top of it.

Cas finds a parking spot where he can, and then Dean doesn't wait one more millisecond to jump out of the car. "I've never been to a concert before!" He calls over to Castiel, who's walking around to open the trunk.

"Serious?" His boyfriend tilts his head, clicking the trunk open and collecting the things that he's brought with them.

Dean nods vigorously, still accompanying that childlike smile that's lopsided against his face. Cas smiles back at him, and then closes the trunk, before locking his car. He's now carrying – a picnic blanket, a backpack that has snacks and water in, a disposable camera, and his phone.

"Say 'I'm the biggest Led Zeppelin fan!'" Castiel somehow manages to balance the camera in one hand, with the rest of his items inside of his other arm.

Dean gives him the cheesy smile that he was hoping for, and then he snaps the picture before he can stop. "You're too cute," Cas grins, bumping shoulders with his boyfriend as they make their way towards the stage, alongside all of the other anticipating fans.

"Takes one to know one," Dean presses a kiss to Cas' cheek, and then takes the backpack from his arms, swinging it around to rest over his own right shoulder.

Throughout the concert Cas almost managed to forgot the reason he had bought these tickets in the first place. The look of pure happiness on Dean's face was contagious, and watching him sing and dance without a care in the world was... Beautiful. Even getting caught up in an impromptu mosh pit halfway through the gig was quite fun, and Dean made sure that he didn't let go of Castiel's hand.

Now that the gig has ended, Cas knows that they can't head home just yet. As they're zig-zagging their way through drunken fans, Castiel grabs Dean's hand and veers him away from the direction of the car park. "I wanna watch the stars for a while!" He yells over the track that's loudly playing from the stage speakers, and sees Dean nod.

They trail through the nearby woodland area, the strobe lights fading away behind them and being replaced by the natural shine of the moonlight. Eventually, they come to a nice clearing in the trees, with a picnic bench right in the middle. Cas smiles, and they both go to sit down on one side each.

"Look, Dean –" Castiel bows his head, still trying to fathom how on earth he's going to say this.

But, little does he know. This is Dean's chance... The moment he's been waiting for. He carefully finds the small parcel of tissue, that's inside of his jacket pocket. He unravels it using only two fingers, and then subtly slides the ring onto the correct finger. Having been shooting constant glances at Cas for the whole time of completing his secret mission, it's still clear to him that the poor guy is none the wiser.

Dean brings his hand up to his face, and starts to casually rub his chin. "You were saying?" His sudden speech brings Castiel's eyes of blue back into the real world once again.

At first, he doesn't register to what's going on. "I – I, well, I wanted to tell you the whole reason I had brought you... Here..." He trails off, his eyes darting to and fro in sync with wherever Dean's finger moves along his face. Dean's extremely shiny finger, that seems to keep catching the light of the moon above them.

Castiel's jaw has almost dropped to the ground, and he's rendered completely speechless. "Where did you – I – who gave you?" Nothing he's saying is really coherent nor making sense, and a wide smile breaks onto Dean's face.

His forest eyes concentrate on Cas' facial expressions, as they fly through each different emotion. At first, he's (understandably) shocked. Now, he looks a little hurt and almost angered.

"Listen, okay? To cut a long story short – I found the box, and I opened it. I'm so sorry that I ruined the damn surprise, but I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I mean, that's why I'm wearing this freakin' beautiful thing." He moves his finger slightly, so that it glimmers again in the moonlight.

Tears align the brim of Castiel's bright blue eyes, and the outline of water glimmers underneath the natural light. He looks at Dean with such awe, stares at his finger. The ring on his finger that insinuates that Dean really does want to grow old with him.

 _"Well?"_ Growing a little impatient, the Winchester interrupts Cas' internal monologue of happiness and nerves.

"You – you like it?" Castiel chokes through an unexpected sob, and he clasps his hand over his mouth in embarrassment.

Dean laughs aloud. "Ask me then!" He almost yells, but is still unable to wipe the genuine smile away from his blushing face.

Castiel finally clicks to what he's supposed to be doing. He stands up from his side of the picnic bench, and walks around to the side that Dean's currently sat on. He feels the patch of his jeans that cover his left knee becoming damp from the grass underneath, as he gets closer to the ground.

"Will you marry me?" Cas has tears streaming down his cheeks, and it's taking all of his willpower not to burst out into an emotional breakdown.

Dean pretends to be deep in thought for one moment too long, and of course he's using his engagement ring finger to tap at his chin with. _"Dean!"_ Castiel breathes out, still holding his hands in the shape of where the box is supposed to go.

"Oh, right... Sorry," the Winchester smirks cheekily down at the flustered man, and he hands him the box from his other pocket, and then slides the ring off of his finger for Cas to put back in.

His shaky fingers tremble to place the quaint little piece of jewellery back where it belongs, and he closes the lid. Opening it again a few seconds later, he brands it up to Dean's beaming face. "So... Do I become a Novak, or do you get the honour of becoming a Winchester?" Castiel immediately jumps up from where he was getting backache from kneeling for so damn long, and he flings his arms around Dean's neck and shoulders.

"Are you serious?" He gasps a gasp full of shock and excitement.

"Yes, Cas. Yes, I want to become your husband... Yes, I'll marry you." Dean whispers into his ear, and cuddles him tightly into his chest.

The pair lean backwards out of the embrace, just enough so that their faces are inches away from eachother. "I love you," Cas utters, staring into Dean's eyes and then moving them downwards to his blossom shaded lips.

Dean moves his hands so that they reach behind his shoulders, and he gently grips the box that's still stuck inside Castiel's hands. Novak giggles, and then realises what he's done. "We're not very good at this," he brings his hands down, and wipes his eyes with the free one.

"Can't say I've ever had much experience though, sorry." Dean chuckles, holding his hand out for Cas to complete his job.

Of course, the ring fits perfectly – again. It twinkles as he brings both hands up to cup Cas' face, and he leaves them there whilst he moves his own face close enough for their lips to entwine. Their eyes flutter closed in sync, and Dean smiles into the kiss.

"Castiel?" He hums softly, still moving with the embrace.

"Hmm?" His fiancé hums gently, making Dean smile even wider.

"I love you too."


End file.
